


Restraint

by psychicdreams



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Drama, Loki being a badass, M/M, Past Sexual Abuse, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-14
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-01-24 20:33:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1616159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychicdreams/pseuds/psychicdreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Faced with no choice, Loki is forced to capture his brother and send him back to Asgard to traitors. Now they must face the wrath of Loki Odinson as he fights to save his family with some extra help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The noise outside his prison cell was what woke Loki. He slept fitfully after the torture at the hands of the Chitauri and his wounds from his time a month ago fighting on Midgard still stung here and there. Even one such as an Asgardian needed time to recover. Slowly he sat up, listening. Booted feet and they were getting closer, but it was not a gait that he recognized. There was the distinctive sound of metal against metal that he knew there was fighting going on somewhere.

Three armored men came into view and they wasted no time in dissolving one of the force fields that held him in. He stood up quickly when they didn’t pause and instead grabbed him. A strange set of manacles were locked around his wrists, but there was no chain between them. What caught his eye was a deep ruby set on each band of metal.

“What—”

Before he could finish his question, a matching circle of metal was produced and it was locked around his throat like a choker, cutting off his voice. He tried repeatedly to speak, only for no sound to appear. This was not Odin’s doing. Despite what he had done, the man had declared he still viewed Loki as his son and this manhandling was not his style.

Someone else entered then, a man in black and golden robes. His eyes were dark and cold, his blonde hair so light it was almost white. He didn’t recognize him and that sent an uncomfortable feeling through him because he had thought he had known everyone in court, up to a point.

“I shall assume you have questions. I will answer none of them,” the man said without preamble. “Know that Odin Borson has been dealt with and so has Queen Frigga. They can no longer protect you, or anyone else.” His eyes widened in shock at the very idea that this man, no matter how good, could have overcome the Allfather. “No one will come to rescue you, if they’d ever cared that is.”

When he made a move to lunge forward, shocks were sent his way through the restraints, a frightening tightening around his neck that threatened to cut off his breathing before settling. “Now, you have a task that you _will_ complete. Only Thor Odinson remains and he is in Midgard. You _will_ retrieve him. After all, you have no choice.”

Loki almost laughed at the idea that they could somehow contain Thor. If they were truly as good as they claimed, why didn’t they go to get him themselves? They would meet the back of Mjolnir as he roundly defeated them. He smirked, but it faded when another armored man appeared and handed Gungnir to the man that had spoken. Odin would never relinquish it if he had a choice. Did that mean…

He felt as if his stomach had been shredded at the very idea that Odin Borson, the Allfather, could be dead. He thought he had heard on the air that he was weak and could fall back to the Odinsleep after he’d been prematurely woken two years ago by his sons’ fighting, but weak enough to kill? That couldn’t be! If they had Gungnir, it was entirely possible that they _could_ contain Thor. That didn’t explain, however, why they required him to do it.

As he had stated, that question remain unanswered. Instead, he was escorted from the palace. No matter how he stretched and strained, his magic remained as bound as his voice. He could not teleport or attack. He felt weak and helpless without access to that, but at the very least he had free physical mobility.

“There is just one thing,” the man said as they stood at the edge of the Bifrost, Heimdall nowhere to be seen. “Queen Frigga _is_ still alive. Should you even attempt to side with Thor instead of sending him back by way of the magic in the manacles, her life is forfeit.”

A fresh surge of rage went through him, that they’d _dare_ threaten his mother’s life. That left him no choice but to do as they ordered. He could not, just could not, risk that they were bluffing. The Bifrost whirled to life and even as he was thrown to Midgard, Loki already knew what he had to do. He had no choice but to send Thor back if he was going to save his mother. A part of him was entirely unsettled at the thought, but he knew at least that his brother could handle whatever they might do, at least for awhile. Enough time that Loki, if he was good enough, could get back and handle the people that endangered his family.

He landed on a crowded street and the red jewel on his left wrist began to glow. Ignoring the mortals that yelled in panic, he headed east and noted that it dimmed. When he turned west, it grew stronger. That was their tracking, was it? Pathetic. He knew where Thor was and he didn’t need this to tell him. It would have taken little to teleport there, but with his magic sealed, he began to run instead. They would want him as soon as possible, so Loki had faith at least that they had put him in a radius of Thor.

He supposed that it was inevitable and he sighed as he heard the sounds above him. Loki glanced up and frowned at seeing Iron Man flying above him and heading right toward him. That was a very fast response time… He ducked into an alleyway and continued to run as a screeching almost came up beside him. He grabbed the fence that blocked his way and pulled himself over it as slamming car doors was heard behind him.

“Loki, stop!”

The god looked over his shoulder and frowned at Captain America that was easily gaining on him. Damn him, not another that was as physically fit as his brother. He wasn’t entirely sure how, but Loki managed to at least stay out of grabbing range as he reached the end of the alley and ran into the street, causing cars of all manners to start screeching and stopping. There was the sound of crashing behind him and the ground shook. He cursed aloud then as the green monster began to join the chase and didn’t care what was in his way.

That left…

Both SHIELD agents were trying to block the street ahead of him to cut him off. The glow on his wrist was getting far stronger and he was going in the right direction. In the back of his mind he was trying to ignore the thought that they might just kill Thor the moment they had him and all he could do was hope that one of the Warriors Three or Sif was still free to stop that if Thor couldn’t save himself.

He felt a wisp at his back and knew that Captain America had come within a hairsbreadth from grabbing him and he put on a burst of speed, agilely managing to dodge the two agents…barely. He had to duck the missiles that were sent his way from Iron Man and at that point, his side was really starting to complain and he was growing winded. If he didn’t reach Thor soon…

Loki grinned a little in triumph at spotting his brother and he rushed forward with the last burst of speed that he had. His abrupt appearance disrupted the man’s courting of Jane Foster. He showed little care as he shoved her out of the way and reached out with his right hand to grab onto the shirt Thor wore.

“Loki! What have you—”

No matter how much he tried, no words escaped him and instead, he said as best he could his apology in his eyes as the magic wrapped around Thor with golden chains. Even with his deadened magical senses, he could tell that it was paining his brother by the grunt he gave as he disappeared, thankfully Mjolnir with him.

He paused, heaving in for breath as the Avengers caught up only seconds later. He didn’t have the strength to fight them because he had to conserve what he had when they came to get him. If they wanted the house of Odin dead, they’d have to have him too. He couldn’t fight them with the bindings and as the Avengers surrounded him, he searched for anything that would be quick and fierce enough to at least loosen them. His eyes alighted on Barton’s quiver. One of those heads could pack enough force to detonate against them. It would hurt…but he would be free.

He surprised them by rushing forward and engaging the man in hand to hand combat. It enabled him to use a dagger he had secretly purloined from one of the guards that had dragged him from the cell, cutting the strap and taking the quiver. He danced out of the way and guessed, yanking the heads out. The first one wasn’t the type he wanted, but the second was, and he violently stabbed the head between his right wrist and the metal.

Loki gritted his teeth as the motion caused it to explode. Even as the blood began to flow, he spun just in time to freeze a man that had appeared behind him. Four others were with him and he grunted as one of them managed to get in a good hit and knock him down. Shocks were bursting all over his nerves and the one around his neck had clamped so tightly around his neck that it took all he had to breathe. The second arrowhead was shoved between his neck and metal just in time for it to explode and he was thrown to the side.

There was a pause, both the Avengers and the Asgardians watched to see if he was unconscious. The final, third explosion signaled no. Loki stood up slowly even as his hands were now covered in blood from his wounds and the sticky liquid was seeping under the collar of his shirt. He glared and suddenly multiple copies of himself were all over the street. Most of the mortals that had had any sense had run inside as soon as the fighting had started, but a few were still out there, including Jane Foster.

Now that he was free, he felt anger surge through him. Threatening Frigga, the possible death of Odin, and worse somehow beyond all the capture of Thor that they’d forced _him_ to do. “Enough of the chase,” he and his clones whispered and they moved at once. He himself and run up behind one of them and slit his throat before he’d been aware he was even there. Ice froze a second man and threw his dagger into the eye of a third. Within seconds he had dispatched all but one and he slammed his booted foot into the neck of the one moaning on the ground as he writhed when Loki began to slowly freeze him.

“I have a message for you to deliver,” he whispered, his rage quiet rather than loud like his brother’s. “You tell that man that if he thinks he can destroy the house of Odin, he is _very_ mistaken.” Loki leaned down, almost on one knee, and bracing his weight on that throat that struggled to work. “Tell him I _will_ return and release my family. If so much as one hair on my brother’s head is _out of place_ , I shall find ways to make him suffer that he isn’t even aware exists and that I have very intimate knowledge of and so help him if either he or my mother is dead. May the Norns take _pity_ on the lot of you with death if my family ceases to draw breath. This is the message you’ll deliver…supposing you _survive_ your journey. So says Loki Odinson!”

With his magic freed, he wrapped the almost entirely frozen man in his teleportation. He listened with something almost close to satisfaction as Asgardian began to scream in pain before he was gone.  In truth, with his mind so clouded by his emotions of anger and fear, he didn’t realize that it had been instinctive to say Loki Odinson instead of Laufeyson.

“What the hell is going on?!”

He looked at the Avengers that had surrounded him, watching him or glancing at the bodies on the ground. “I have no patience for you unless you were also part of the plot. How convenient that you were not there with him…”

Before they could respond, Jane had wormed her way through the circle and glared at him. “What have you done to Thor?! If you’ve hurt him—”

Already wrestling with the thought that he could have sent Thor to his death, Loki couldn’t bear the accusation right then that he had done it willingly. Not when Frigga’s very life had depended on his actions.  He slapped her fiercely, sending her reeling against the female SHIELD agent. “Pathetic woman, you know nothing! You _are_ nothing, nothing but a distraction! Who do you think you are, to threaten me?! To believe you have the right to somehow know everything about Thor?!”

“Son of a bitch,” Tony spat and his hand glowed, but it was the gloved hand of Captain America that stopped the bolt from firing.

“What do you mean, part of the plot? _What_ plot? What happened to Thor? Why did you send him back only to threaten those men that you would return and free him? Why send him in the first place then?”

“I have no time for you!” he spat, wrapping his magic around him as he prepared to teleport. The words ‘You can’t do it alone’ following after him like a curse.

Just as he was about to warp through the weak world walls and return to Asgard through a passage he had discovered years ago, his emotions calmed enough to realize the wisdom of that statement. As good as he was, he _couldn’t_ do it alone. There was no way he could rescue Thor and his family alone, if he assumed that there was more than a handful of guards, particularly if they were strong enough to take down the rest of his family. Then there was Gungnir…

“Damn,” he hissed under his breath and changed his plan, landing instead in the middle of the room that he had been in a month ago. It brought up all manner of unpleasant memories that he tried to shrug off.

He grunted as a blast landed at his back, sending him flying forward into the sofa. Iron Man landed heavily and leveled his weapons right at his face. Loki made no attempt to stand or show a threatening position as, within moments, the rest of the Avengers rushed into the room. There was no green monster, instead the mild-mannered scientist that he’d manipulated earlier.

“Why are you here?”

He looked at the super soldier and sighed, standing despite their reaction. “In that, you were right. I cannot do it alone. My magic is not…designed for that.”

“What’s going on?” Natasha demanded, her gun cocked and aimed at him.

“I’m afraid I have no answers for you,” he snarled, his lack of knowledge irritating him. “All I know is that I was in my cell and heard combat. Within a moment, I was bound by restraints that blocked my magic and my voice. I was told by a man that I did not know that I _would_ go to Midgard and bring Thor back and if I did not do it, they would kill my mother. Faced with the possibility that they had truly killed the Allfather, as he wielded Gungnir, and also suffocating because of the bindings, I had no choice. Your appearance turned out to be of benefit to me, enabling me to remove the restraints.”

“Speaking of that, you should really get that looked at,” Banner said after a minute, gesturing to his neck and wrists.

“It is of little consequence. I will heal. Right now there are greater concerns.”

“So you’re planning on bringing Thor back?!”

Oh that voice… Loki’s eye twitched viciously at seeing Jane Foster in the back. The left side of her face looked like it would bruise a bit with how hard he had hit her. What right did she think she had to be here? Or did they bring her there just to assure themselves that she was fine? Her _voice_ was in working order and he found himself wishing he had kept that collar to shove it on her. He had never really given her much thought before, but the worse Thor’s infatuation with her became, the more he disliked her.

“I believe I explained that it is of _no_ concern of yours.”

“Look, you—”

“On topic people!” Steve demanded. “So do you have a plan?”

“I plan to return and find my family. Of paramount is to find out whether or not Thor and the Allfather are still alive, and rescue my mother.”

“So you don’t think of them as coldly as you say.”

“What?” he said, blinking at scientist that wore just a pair of pants he had purloined from somewhere.

There was a pause and the man shook his head. “Never mind. Something for later. When are you planning on going?”

“As soon as _you_ are ready.” This time it was their time for a collective ‘what’. Loki smirked. “You were the ones that said that I could not do it alone. I assumed that that meant you would be volunteering. Or would you leave Thor to his fate?”

“We’re going,” the super soldier said staunchly.

“Good,” he said and wrapped his magic around everyone but Jane before they could change their mind. He would make those men regret their decision intimately.


	2. Chapter 2

He landed them in a small wooded area. It was a little further out than the city, but that was the cost of using his ways in and out of worlds. They were dangerous and he was lucky that they had not landed in the ocean or worse, impaled on sharp rocks. He crouched down, hissing at the surprised mortals to be quiet. He had to be careful here because they knew the telltale feels of his magic. He dared not use it carelessly. Loki tentatively tested and cursed as he felt a barrier pressing against his senses that would prevent his teleportation. It would take him weeks to unravel magically. His choice of bringing the Avengers had been wiser than he’d even known since he would _have_ to do this the hard way.

His green eyes flickered to the Bifrost, but it seemed darker and colder. Was Heimdall there? Unlikely, as there was no warrior more committed to the line of Odin than him. Despite his occasional sharp words, Heimdall had even treated him fairly until things had spiraled to hell with Thor’s banishment two years ago.

“Where are we?” Natasha asked, whispering.

“Too far away,” he said grimly and cautiously led them along the path. He saw no one in front of them, but the nearby gate into the city was closed. It was bright daylight; if they were going to scale the wall, or in the genius’ case fly over it, it would have to be at night or they risked blowing everything before it had even begun.

“We’ll have to wait until nightfall,” Barton said, eerily seeming to read his thoughts.

Loki nodded, sitting on the grass abruptly. This was as good a place as any to wait, he supposed. Was Thor still alive? For all his words before, the thought that his brother was dead was unsettling and unpleasant. If anyone was to kill him, it had to be him. His thoughts, seemingly skittish, shied away from his brother and moved on to the more pressing questions. Where had this man even come from? What had been going on in the past two years that he had not been around to see? This wouldn’t have happened if he’d been there!

“Why are you doing this?”

The abrupt words from Tony Stark startled him from his introspection. “What?”

“You’ve tried to kill him how many times now? Why should this matter? You seem awfully upset for someone that’s claimed over and over that they aren’t family.”

“My reasons are my own. I am not obligated to share them with you,” he spat, trying to ignore that he had been thinking the same thing.

“You know what I think? I think you _do_ think of him as family and this is just a stupid childish resentment against him, thinking that the world should be nice to you. That it owes you something.”

It took more strength than any of the Avengers would ever know to resist impaling Tony Stark on a spear of ice. How dare this man make light of what he had gone through, the darkness that had surrounded him as he grew up. He had not chosen what had happened, but after listening to the whispers, the taunts, the disdain for thousands of years, how else was he supposed to react? Loki had focused on a single goal for his entire life: make Odin proud. When it had seemed as if he’d failed that, he had been unable to hold his head up even once. He’d given up, because what else was there if even his own father had turned against him?

Tony was smirking in triumph, but when he opened his mouth to spew whatever greater invectives he held, Barton put his hand on his shoulder to stop him. Loki’s green eyes met that of the genius’ and he wondered if he appeared as murderous as he felt because whatever else he might have said died on his lips.

“Do not tempt my control,” he whispered, deceptively sounding calm. “I am worse than my brother in ways you cannot even imagine. You know nothing of my life or who I am. The only reason you are here is I _need_ you for Thor. Do you understand? I do not desire you here and your presence is more than just an annoyance to me. I will put up with you, but if you mention again, even once, that I am childish and refer to my youth, I will stop even your metal heart cold.”

“What, you were expecting us to treat you nicely?”

“I don’t care if you treat me nicely,” he replied to Tony’s snarl. “I don’t even care if you hate me. What you feel for me _doesn’t matter_. So long as you keep it to yourself, you are free to hate me to your heart’s content. I’m not interested in anything other than revenge on the men that presume they can hurt my family.”

He leaned back against the tree behind him and closed his eyes, reveling in the silence that surrounded them.

-0-

_“Loki!”_

_Loki grinned before he could help it, hearing his brother thunder toward him from behind. He remained on the balcony, looking down at the courtyard and braced himself. He grunted just a bit as Thor grabbed him tightly from behind. Arms wrapped around his waist and he was yanked to a firm chest. “Brother dear,” he said with a slight gasp as his air was knocked from his lungs, “while I appreciate your enthusiasm, you are aware of the picture this makes. Or did you intend to play a prank on everyone by making it seem as if we are intimate?”_

_“But we are intimate,” Thor replied._

_“As usual, you fail to realize what I meant. Did you want others to think that I share your bed?”_

_“They would not think that!”_

_“…Perhaps not,” was all he would say on the matter. “Did you need something?”_

_“Need something? Loki, you’ve returned! Your absence was heavy and I missed you!”_

_“I was gone for a mere three months,” he said, mock-complaining, even though he was **reveling** in knowing that Thor had wanted to see him, had noticed when he was gone on his training._

_“How was it? Was it everything you hoped for? Did you learn anything?”_

_“Yes, dear brother, it was wonderful. The magic flowed freely there, pure and powerful. I learned so much and I ache to return to learn more.”_

_“You are not planning on leaving again soon, are you?”_

_Loki looked to the side at his brother’s face as it hovered next to his, the arms warm and comforting around him. Honestly, so long as he had his brother, mother, and father, it didn’t matter what anyone said. He didn’t care what they called him or how they treated him because the three most important people in his life were all that mattered. “No, not soon,” he reassured._

_Thor’s concerned face lifted with its charming grin. “Then come, we must drink and toast to your return!”_

_“I will…on one condition.”_

_“Always with your conditions… Very well, what is it?”_

_“I do not want a large gathering, Thor. In fact, I would prefer solitude, just you and I if you insist on drinking. I wish to **relax** now that I’ve returned.”_

_“My celebrations do not relax you?”_

_“With a hundred to three hundred men present bellowing their accomplishments in battle? No, most definitely not.” He idly rested his hand over the linked ones of his brother at his waist. Just a simple touch, a simple reminder that he had been gone, and he knew Thor would give in. It wasn’t that Loki felt a great deal of enjoyment at manipulating his brother, but that if he didn’t do it, it was likely he’d never get what he wanted._

_Thor sighed, but smiled and squeezed him. Loki let out a huff of air as the motion caused his lungs to empty, and he grunted as Thor, in a playful manner, lifted him off his feet. “Very well, we will drink in my room until the sun starts to rise in the horizon and we are both so drunk our memories will flee from us!”_

_Loki laughed despite having no breath._

He jerked awake with a quiet gasp. He had…forgotten…how happy he’d been back then. Before he’d known he was Jotun, before there had been any emphasis on who was to be king, things had been good. Despite the distance he had felt in himself between him and Thor on that fateful coronation day, he had spoken the absolute truth: he loved Thor dearly and had been happy for him, despite his own resentment. He could still remember the cheeky smile and wink Thor had given him as he’d knelt, almost as if he were maiden, and he’d had to look down to keep from grinning back. It had been… _fun_ then. When was the last time he’d had fun?

Something was dropped on his knee and he glanced down at a…handkerchief? Narrowing his gaze, he looked up at Banner, who sat down next to him without a word. It was not dark enough to scale the wall yet, but the sun had fallen. He didn’t even realize what the cloth was for until Banner tapped at the corner of his own eye. Loki stiffened as he realized, by the feeling of his cheeks and eyes, that he had cried in his sleep.

Angered beyond belief, he scrubbed at his face with his hands, refusing to use the cloth. Loki hadn’t been prepared for a memory, and he wasn’t even sure why it had come to mind other than his fear that he had sent Thor to his death.

“You’re really worried about them, aren’t you? Your family?”

There was no condemnation in Banner’s voice, just soft concern. “Does it matter?” he hissed, not wanting to draw the others into the conversation. The two SHIELD agents were asleep, even the genius seemed to be napping, but the super soldier was still awake, standing guard on the perimeter.

“Maybe to some,” he replied softly.

“But not to any of you,” he hissed back.

Instead of responding, Bruce seemed to think about it and commented, “Thor told me once that you and he were very close until recently. He says that the distance that formed between you two was mostly his fault.” Their eyes met. “He said that if you’d shown even a hint that you wanted redemption, or could be saved, he’d drop everything to do it. I don’t think that he thought you’d do the same for him.”

“What makes you think—”

“We’re here, aren’t we? _You’re_ here.”

“Do not attempt to play mind games with me,” he spat.

“I’m not,” the scientist protested. “I just wanted to know how you felt about it, that’s all.”

He studied the man mistrustfully and stood up. He rolled his shoulders once and turned, pausing when he glanced down at his hands. His wrists and neck were bandaged. Someone had wrapped some cloth they’d cut from his tunic around them, despite the fact that he’d told them before that they would heal on their own. His eye twitched and he looked at them all suspiciously. What was their game?

Loki spun on his heel and stalked toward the super soldier, who turned to watch him warily.

“I haven’t seen any guards patrolling up on the walls.”

“They’ll be some on the ground,” he said, his mouth a grim line. “I cannot properly plan like this.” He turned to him. “I need you to wait here. I’ll sneak in and then return.”

“You’re not going alone and leaving us here,” said a voice behind him, gruff with sleep.

He glared at the genius that had woken up, the two SHIELD agents looking disgustingly awake despite their sleep only moments before. “Then explain to me how _you_ are going to understand the best method to sneak past them into the palace? Your suggestion that you should go instead _surely_ must mean you have _thousands of years experience_ of the layout of this city, correct?”

“He’s right, Tony,” Steve said with an even grimmer frown. “We don’t know this place and he does. I know he’ll be back for us.”

“What makes you so confident of that?”

“Because if he doesn’t, what was the point of bringing us? He _needs_ us. What good are we to his plans if he doesn’t come back?”

“Amazing, there is a brain cell among the lot of you,” Loki said and dashed out in the darkness toward the wall.


	3. Chapter 3

Loki slipped through the shadows, hiding behind pillars and boxes and whatever else happened to be there as he counted guards. Patrolling in pairs and an hour before the guard changed to keep them fresh and pay attention. This man was really leaving nothing to chance then. Still, no matter what his planning, it could only do so much with the guards themselves. These men were not trained to be guardsmen, they were merely warriors obeying orders. They didn’t check behind anything, just glanced around them to see if anything untoward was there.

He tugged off his shoes and hid them in an alcove to help keep himself quiet, since he dared not use his magic right then. No matter what he had done in the past two years, he had always been known as the prince of magic; everyone would be aware of the feel of it and for the first time, he mentally cursed that he’d been so free with it before.

Quietly he slunk toward the palace. The gates were closed, but he headed around a side entrance. Rather than go in the servant’s door, he crawled in through a window and was rewarded for his forethought. A warrior sat on a stool, snoring, as he braced his weight back against the door he was supposed to be guarding.  Silent as a shadow, he crouched and almost crawled along the ground through the palace.

Because of the lack of places to hide, he was forced to take side paths around larger rooms like the throne room. He wanted to go there, to find the man that had started all this and learn of his plans, his name, or kill him, but he dared not in case there were tactics in place for his untimely death. No, he would have to free his family first before he could confront him.

The first place he went was his own rooms and they weren’t even locked. He could see why when he looked around: it had been ransacked. Knowing his mother, and even Thor, this couldn’t have happened until after the coup, because they would have kept it in pristine condition. They were like that, their sentiment. Still, they wouldn’t have found anything of use because most of what he prized was hidden away.

Loki slid beneath the heavy bed and nudged, managing to remove a heavy stone brick. Underneath it was an enchanted dagger, a small staff, and a few throwing stars that had been given to him by Hogun once, a lifetime ago, on his birthday. It was probably the only thoughtful present any of the Warriors Three had ever gifted to him.

Squirming back out, he slid to a locked chest they hadn’t been able to open and pulled out some leather armor. It felt familiar and comforting as he put it on. It was older, not the one that he usually wore to official functions or actual battle anymore, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still serviceable. Despite his concern being heard, he pulled and laced on his boots.

The helmet would draw too much attention, so he left it behind on the floor where he found it. His next destination was his parents’ room, but his neither his mother nor Odin was there. There was the residue of magic, of the Odinsleep, still present near the bed, but no blood. They might have gotten Gungnir, but it was not because they killed the Allfather. There would be no reason to move the body to kill him elsewhere, so he must not be dead.

This left him with a choice: he couldn’t stay too long, he had to get back, but did he look for Thor or Frigga? If he didn’t find Thor, it would delay freeing him at least another day, but he could free his mother. On the other hand, if he freed Frigga, it would be immediately noticeable and the patrols would be increased and the man would know. He’d never get to Thor in time.

Loki dropped on the edge of his parent’s bed, bracing his forehead in his hands. What did he choose? If he freed even one of them, it would alert their captor that he was here and he’d be risking the life of the person he left behind. The thoughts whirled in his head and after a minute, he sent a prayer, an apology, to his mother. He needed Thor to help him for the assault to free her; after all, his stubborn, idiotic brother was far more useful in combat.

So instead of heading deeper and higher into the palace, he turned and went lower. First he would check the dungeons. They were not as heavily guarded as he had expected and his eyes narrowed mistrustfully. Why? Did that mean Thor wasn’t bound there? Loki considered turning around, but he was almost to the cells, so why not continue?

There were no other prisoners there; did his enemy let them out? Probably. Cautiously he approached his former cell. It was just like he’d left it except that there was a chain now hanging from the ceiling that hadn’t been there before. He frowned grimly. He didn’t see Mjolnir, but something in the pit of his stomach said that this was where they were keeping Thor. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the spots on the floor that he could barely see were blood, and they were fresh.

Why wasn’t Thor there, though? That must be why the guards were light. He had been taken out of the cell, but for what purpose? To torture him? That was hardly necessary. Did they use Gungnir to weaken him or attack him? Part of Loki was disappointed because he had rather hoped to have a chance to assess his brother’s condition before he was forced to bring the Avengers in.

Knowing now where he had to go, Loki hurried back out and from the palace, jumping out the window just in time as guards were changing places. He slipped behind a pile of boxes as he made his way back to the wall, climbing over it with little difficulty and dropping down on the other side. He braced himself for a landing with the ground, preparing his ankles for the impact, but grunted as he was caught. The Captain looked at him and shrugged at his glare, setting him down immediately on his feet. “Didn’t want you to break a leg.”

“I’m honored,” he sneered, “however, I am _far_ sturdier than most of you mortals.”

“What did you find?” Bruce asked as the rest quickly joined the two before they could start an argument.

“Thor is being kept in the dungeon, in my former cell and I’m sure that the irony was chosen specifically to torment him. He wasn’t there, though; they took him for some purpose. I don’t believe the Allfather is dead. There was no blood in the room, but also no sign of my mother. The guard changes hourly, but they are untrained in the way guards usually are to _look behind things_ if they’re checking to make sure no one has infiltrated. It should be simple to slip past them.”

“Am I the only one that doesn’t like the idea of him carrying weapons?” Stark muttered, gesturing to him.

“It’s a necessity, Tony. He’s got to have something,” Bruce defended gently.

Not that Loki wanted his defense at all. “I fail spectacularly to care what you like.”

“Are we going to be able to get to him tonight?”

He shook his head at the Russian agent. “It took too much time to observe the routines, what manner in which the guards are rotated, and when and then to infiltrate the palace and find where they have been keeping Thor. It will be too light by the time we reach the palace itself, much less release him.”

“Great. More thrilling heroics in waiting!”

Loki rolled his eyes and resumed his place against the tree. He crossed his legs and was about to meditate, trying to focus on the mental layout of the palace to find the best route out just in case stealth failed, when the drawl of the super soldier interrupted his thoughts. “How much older is Thor than you?”

“A few years.”

“Were you close?”

“Why do you ask?” he returned with narrowed eyes.

“Because I wanted to know. There’s nothing else to do for a few hours at least.”

Surely they could talk amongst themselves? The better question would be to ask him the layout of the palace and grounds, but it was too massive to be explained in a few short hours and if he chose to only show what he hoped they could use, they would be lost if he had to stay behind for some reason. Pursing his lips, he picked up a stick and began to dig in the sand, drawing lines.

“Rather than talk about the imbecilic nature of my brother, I will show you most of the palace. Try to remember it in case it becomes necessary to separate.”

“You’re anticipating a separation?” Barton asked, crouching down next to him with his eyes on the disturbed dirt.

“It is far best to plan ahead than get caught unawares. I cannot assume any of you will be competent enough to follow my path in stealth.” He looked specifically at Stark and Banner. “Nor can I assume that there won’t be complications.”

“Like you getting killed?”

“Oh, I will not die unless I’m taking that man with me,” he said resolutely with a growl. “Now, these are the wings of the palace where the royal family lives…” He painstakingly went through each floor, each area, and assuring they understood all the exit locations.

As he detailed the garden, he was surprised when the widow said, “Oh, so that’s where it was.”

“What?”

“Thor told me a story when he was drunk about him and the garden. You were there too.”

“Did the story involve rain?”

“Yes.”

Loki gave an expressive roll of his eyes. “Oh, that old story.”

“What old story?”

He glanced at Steve, then at the others, and noted much to his frustration that they were looking interested as well. Tapping his fingers in irritation, he leaned back and said, “No doubt Thor has embellished the tale considerably…” he muttered, mind automatically replaying the scene for him.

_Loki looked out from his spot under an overhang at his brother, currently lying on his back in the rain amid the flowers, the moon shining down without seeming to have a care in the world. Thor was laughing, not seeming to care that the rain was falling into his mouth. Mjolnir was in the mud next to him and Loki sighed, lifting his cloak over his head before going to his side. “What are you doing out here, Thor?”_

_“Enjoying the thunderstorm, brother. Come join me.”_

_“No, thank you.”_

_Thor’s eyes sparkled up at him and before he could register what he was doing, his brother’s arm had lashed out and tripped him at the ankles, tossing him onto his back. He grunted as the air was thrown out of his lungs and Loki blinked repeatedly at the drops as they landed on his face before he could help it._

_He was about to lift his hand to shield his face when it was done for him by Thor’s body. His laughing brother had turned, bracing himself over top him so the hair landed on the back of his head. His hair fell on either side of his face, acting almost like a ditch to drain the water to either side of his head. “How old are you again, Thor?” he griped a bit, but wasn’t overly put out. He crossed his arms over his chest despite the mud that coated his back and now hair as it lay in the wet dirt._

_“Old enough to remember how to have fun.”_

_“Thunderstorms always do this to you. You have never acted more childish in the last two thousand years as you do when it rains.”_

_“Don’t you love it too, brother? The cold water, the sound of thunder and the flash of lightning washing away the heat of the day and all your cares. I love it. Stay and enjoy the storm with me. Understand why I love it.”_

_It was the first time Thor had ever asked him to understand something about him; most of the time he didn’t have to because Loki just understood. Perhaps it was his connection with Mjolnir that led him to such fascination. He didn’t know, but he did enjoy the cold, wet breeze over the stifling heat of the midday.”Mother sent me to bring you in.”_

_“And I ask you to stay. What will you do, Loki?”_

_He wanted to push his brother off and stalk inside just to spite the look in Thor’s eyes because Thor **knew** he would stay. Loki let out a grumble, but couldn’t do it. “I’ll stay, but you must remain where you are.”_

_“What?” the man said with laughter in his voice._

_“If I’m to stay out here, I require you to remain where you are and shield me from the worst of the rain.”_

_Thor let out a heavy laugh that was so bright that it made Loki decide maybe a little rain wouldn’t hurt._

“Well?”

“Ask Thor when we release him,” Loki said instead, not willing to share such an intimate moment with anyone. “Now I suggest you rest. We will return at nightfall for the assault.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t dislike the Warrior’s Three and Sif, I’d like to preface this by saying, but this fic is not going to be very kind to them. I’m not deliberately trying to make them look bad on purpose, but they won’t come out looking good either.

Loki landed on the inside of the wall and waited for the rest of the Avengers to follow before he half-ran in a crouch to the kitchen window. He was itching, itching to get moving and rescue Thor. The waiting had been almost painful by that point and he didn’t even know why. Something was burning in his chest, telling him to get moving. The sooner he released his brother, the sooner they could rescue his mother and kill the bastard that had attempted to eradicate the house of Odin.

He signaled for them to wait as he dove into the room in one smooth role. Silent as he was, he hadn’t woken the guard and he snuck up, pulling out his dagger and slicing his throat without a sound. He kicked the body off the stool and opened the door to let the others in, as the only ones he could count on being silent through the window would be the two SHIELD agents.

He winced at hearing the sound of the iron suit against the floor and he glanced around, but no one had come. They were never going to make it to the dungeons with that noise alerting every presence. It was a set of armor that was just not designed for stealth.

“Did you have to kill him?”

“Yes,” he said flatly to the captain without looking at him. “Hold still.”

“What are you doing?” Stark demanded, stepping back, but he ignored it. The spell weaved around the man and he hated to do it, his magic would no doubt be like a beacon to the men he wanted to avoid right then, but he had no choice. Better now and have a chance than have to fight all the way through the palace.

“I made you silent. We can’t make it anywhere with the sounds you were making. Now follow me, or stay behind. I don’t care which.”

Not surprisingly they all elected to follow him and he led the quickest way down to the dungeons. There were quite a few more guards here than there had been the night before, which likely meant that Thor was in his cell. Like a sleek cat, he moved forward quickly and with a few strategic strikes, killed one guard. Another was grabbed and choked to unconsciousness by the patriotic soldier. Barton took out a third, leaving them a clear path.

Loki hurried to the cell and slid to a stop. He could hear the Avengers coming up behind him, but he only had eyes for his brother. His strong sibling was kneeling on the floor, arms held to the sides with a board against his back, that which was suspended from a chain in the ceiling. So that’s what they had used it for. There were heavy bruises on his skin and he could see cuts that were healing. His armor was nowhere to be found; instead he wore a pair of ratty clothes.

Although his mind said it could have been a lot worse, an all consuming rage had spread through his bloodstream. He ignored the gasp from someone behind him and the muttered question of how they released Thor. Was he even awake? He braced his hands against the forcefield and damned it all to hell, he didn’t care if his magic would alert the rest of the palace. He was _not_ leaving Thor like this.

He gathered all he could to his fingertips until it strained to hold so much magic before he let it out in a soundless blast. The barrier, meant for Loki, held strong and he did it again, and again, until after the third consecutive blast, it shattered. He wasn’t sure if it was respect or something else that held the Avengers back as he stepped into the cell and knelt on one knee.

His presence seemed to jog something because finally Thor’s head moved, lifted, and the exhaustion and pain in his eyes were dulling the life in those blue orbs. “Loki…?”

Some rage that he could barely control burned in his fingertips and heart and he jerked to his feet. Rather than doing what he had originally planned, which was having one of the Avengers break the chains, he gripped them himself. From his hands his ice spread, encasing link after link until he had covered at least six and felt the magic penetrate into the very foundation of the metal. A few good hits with his dagger and they shattered.

Thor’s shoulders slumped immediately and his head fell forward, bracing against Loki’s thigh. Loki remained still, allowing the man to breathe in relief. Slowly he let one hand rest in his blonde hair before reaching for the manacles that held his wrists to the wood. At first he held his magic back, waiting until Thor looked up at him. It was going to hurt, his eyes warned, because he would have to encase his whole hand.

A soft nod assured him that his ability to communicate with Thor without words was still intact. He repeated the process, ignoring the grunt of pain, and finally they broke just as had their counterparts. Thor fell forward again, bracing himself weakly against the floor. How had this happened? What had the man done with Gungnir to weaken Thor this way?

“Get him. We’re leaving,” he growled. Thor’s condition made it impossible to consider doing an immediate assault against the man that had started all this.

Captain America and Banner quickly took each arm and helped Thor to his feet. There was a bit more sense coming to his brother’s eyes and he wondered if there had been an enchantment on the metal that he hadn’t noticed in his anger. “Loki—”

Loki didn’t want to hear it, not sure what Thor was going to say, and he hurried them out of the dungeon. There was no point in being subtle anymore. He could hear the sounds of booted feet nearby. “Get ready to fight,” he warned. His display of magic had been like a beacon and as soon as he had thrown open the door to leave, four warriors rushed them. He took out one, the two SHIELD agents had one of their own and Iron Man the last. It was over in seconds.

Despite no more need for subtlety, Loki didn’t dare risk going out the front door. There would be too many people to take on and he quickly chose a secondary route. It led through tighter corridors which he didn’t like since only two could walk abreast, but if that was the way it had to be, then so be it. He half-ran them through, coming to crossroads. The area to his left had a short staircase that led out to a long, wide balcony and he headed for it immediately before he found himself thrown against a pillar.

Moaning a bit in pain, Loki shook his head and looked up, feeling a shudder go through him.

“Hey, isn’t that—”

“The Destroyer,” he supplied at the genius and threw a spear of ice to throw off its aim. It stumbled back and he yelled, “Get moving!” Damn, he hadn’t had the time to explain the exits of this section of palace that was fairly unused.

“We’re not leaving you here!” argued the soldier as the female SHIELD agent fired a few shots at the Destroyer.

“You don’t have a choice!”

A voice from behind him on the balcony, gasped in outrage, made him turn. “Loki!”

Sif, and the Warrior’s Three. “For the first time, you have decent timing,” he growled and reached out, grabbing the nearest Avenger, which turned out to Barton, and shoved him toward them, forcing the man to stumble. “Follow them!” he commanded.

“I’m not leaving you,” Captain America insisted as Barton began to maneuver the still weak Thor.

“You don’t have a choice,” he spat as he met every one of the Destroyer’s blasts with ice sheets. “I’m ordering you to take Thor out of here! They’ll lead the way out. Won’t you?” he added, glaring at Sif and the three other warriors _demanding_ their obedience with his eyes. He didn’t care what they felt for him, he would not be disobeyed when something so important was going on.

Much to his surprise, there were almost respectful nods. Sif reached out to touch Thor, but the two Avengers didn’t let him go. Loki ducked under a sweep of the Destroyer’s hand and mentally groaned at seeing some men round the corner at a run from the right as he stood blocking the only way down the steps to the balcony, placing himself between any that would come after Thor. He coated the floor with sheer, thick ice, causing them to slip and fall.

“Go with them, patriot,” he growled, meeting the man’s rebellious eyes. “There’s going to be too much fighting ahead of you as it is and you’ll need all the warriors you can get. Trust me, I _won’t_ fall in battle.”

“We could never be so lucky,” Fandral muttered.

Banner glared at the blonde-haired man and said tensely, “Rather than insult someone, shall we at least get Thor to safety?”

Loki didn’t have time to spare the defense of him from the scientist, too busy distracting the Destroyer that was pretty much destroying the entire hallway. He heard Sif command them to follow her and he felt them leave one by one. Stark stayed as the last one, watching him, but he too left, this time through the sky right next to those running on the balcony.

Allowed now to give his full attention to the situation, he disregarded using clones and mirror images because it wouldn’t affect the Destroyer and the soldiers weren’t dumb enough to not to pay attention to where the monstrous creation was aiming at. He just had to make sure that he gave the others time enough to get Thor out before he could make his escape.

The trickster ducked under a chunk of falling pillar and attempted to freeze the legs of the Destroyer. It did pause him enough and he had a moment of triumph before he caught a blast of red right from the face of the thing and he was thrown back. He spit out a bit of blood as he slammed into one of the decorative pillars of the balcony and he managed to remain on the balcony as the force of the slam knocked said pillar off, falling down a sheer cliff.

As he struggled up, some of the soldiers had managed to get down the stairs and he pulled out his daggers. Close combat it was then.

-0-

Thor struggled weakly as his friends laid him down on a bed in a small one room home. He’d listened to Sif’s explanation that herself and the Warrior’s Three had managed to escape and were part of a resistance, but only with his half his attention. “You must go back for Loki,” he growled at the captain that had discarded his mask, letting it fall behind his neck. With how the magic and torture had drained him, and without Mjolnir, he wouldn’t be any good. That didn’t mean he was going to let his brother die.

“He insisted on staying behind; let us honor his words,” Fandral said, touching his shoulder, but Thor shrugged it away angrily.

“That isn’t why you refuse to return!” he spat.

“Thor!”

Ignoring the angry and admonishing tone of Sif, he turned in supplicant to the Avengers. He had no spare time to question why they were even there. “Please, my friends, save Loki.”

“I’ll go back,” Rogers assured. “I swear I’ll get him back.”

“And I’ll go with him,” Stark added, grabbing his helmet from the table.

“You’re risking bringing soldiers here with you,” Hogun told them. “We have to thank Loki that he stopped those coming behind us so that we could hide here while Thor recovers.”

It was the first time that Thor had ever heard Hogun actually praise his brother and he flashed a relieved, thankful smile, but the warrior merely nodded back. “You’ll never get in without one of us to guide you and I won’t risk Thor’s life by doing so and bringing you back,” Sif said staunchly.

It inflamed Thor that those he had grown up with were willing to let Loki when he’d clearly risked his very life to save his own. Those were not the actions of a man that was unredeemable. “Then I will show them the way,” he growled, forcing himself to sit up.

“Oh shut up, all of you!”

Several whirled as the door was thrown open. “Loki!”

Loki was clutching his stomach as he leaned in the doorway, trailing blood, and his armor and shirt had been shredded. It barely covered his chest, and he wobbled dangerously. Banner reached out and caught his brother when he attempted to walk without support and almost fell. More hands moved to help and dragged the trickster to a chair, sitting him down in it.

Thor didn’t care how badly he hurt, he was on his feet and at his brother’s side in an instant. The Avengers hovered around, and it actually hurt him a bit to see that Sif and the Warriors Three remained apart, not approaching. “Loki. Loki, how badly are you hurt?”

He moved his hands from his stomach and Thor winced. A piece of a sword was clearly thrust in, but not exiting through the back. “A cork,” the dark-haired man gasped. “If I removed it, I’d just bleed out. We need to pull it out, then cauterize it.”

He glanced at the fireplace, but there was no wood to light a fire unless they wanted to destroy the furniture and that would draw too much attention. “Banner, please, the poker. Stark, do your weapons emit heat?”

Iron Man blinked and looked at the jets on his hands. “Well, they do, yes—”

“Then make the end of the poker as hot as you can.”

“You’re not seriously thinking of doing what I think you are…”

“You have a better idea?” Loki spat.

“Yeah, a hospital!”

“Please…enlighten me…as to where we can go…for that right now?”

“Loki does not have the time to find a healer,” Thor said grimly. Loki was still losing blood regardless of whether the blade itself was holding most of it in. “Please.”

It was Barton that interrupted. “Let’s not use the poker, god knows what it’s got on the end. My arrowheads are at least _sterile_.”

“Hurry then!” he ordered impatiently. “It does not matter what it is, so long as it is metal!”

After a short conference with Natasha, she produced a clean dagger and handed it to Tony. The man seemed a little green about what was going to happen, but he ignited the booster on his left palm and held the dagger over it with his right.

“Loki?” he asked, bracing himself against the chair with one hand to steady himself.

“What?”

The hissed, angry word at least assured him that he wasn’t going to pass out. “You will be all right, I promise.”

“As if you should even care.”

“Should I not care when you cared enough to rescue me?” Their eyes met, pained green to Thor’s serious blue. “I could see what you were trying to tell me when you sent me back to Asgard. You didn’t want to, did you?”

“I think it’s hot enough,” Tony muttered.

Thor didn’t even look behind him and instead, gripped the broken blade and not caring that it was cutting into his own palm. He didn’t stop talking, fighting to keep a calm tone. “I told myself that my hope that you were the same man I grew up with was gone, but it looks as if that isn’t true. I’m remain as foolishly hopeful as ever.”

“At least you acknowledge it,” Loki muttered.

“Bite down, Loki.”

“On _what_ exactly, Thor?”

He looked around, but Barton was already ready, pulling the leather belt from his quiver and holding it out. Loki wrinkled his nose, but opened his mouth and bit down on it hard. There would be indents left in it. Banner took one of his brother’s hand just as Thor yanked it out without warning. There was the sound of pure pain, a keening, muffled sound that almost sounded like a whimpered cry. The dagger was thrust into his hand and he pressed the heated blade against the now freely bleeding wound.

Loki screamed around the metal and Thor buried his face in the man’s black hair. It was painful enough, he knew, but his brother was also Jotun and the heat was likely making it even worse. Loki’s free hand gripped his shirt, but neither cared that he was tearing it. The smell of his flesh burning as the wound was cauterized was unpleasant and there was a gagging sound behind him.

Finally, sure of the closed wound, Thor pulled the knife away. He wasn’t sure who took it from him, but he quickly used that hand to dive into the hair on the other side of Loki’s face, holding the man’s face against his shoulder. He felt the shudders going through his brother and he would help protect his dignity as he let out an undignified cry. If there were tears, he would help cover them. “Rest, Loki.”

He knew his words would be ignored and they were, as Loki remained stiff as he struggled to remain awake, but Thor hadn’t expected anything different. “Move him to the bed.”

“Thor, you should be the one resting!”

He glared at Sif. “Loki has more need of it than I!” Thor stepped back and allowed Rogers and Stark to step forward, each taking an arm and a knee, carrying him over and resting him on the bed. He didn’t waste a moment in sitting on the edge near his brother’s hip.

“The Destroyer is dead,” the man muttered with a soft, pained gasp.

“How could you defeat the Destroyer?” Fandral asked skeptically.

“Are you insinuating I’m lying?”

Loki’s voice was seemingly calm, but Thor didn’t believe that he was for one minute. He glanced sharply at the blonde-haired warrior, who shifted, but at least met his eyes. “Fandral—”

“Okay, let’s settle this right now,” Rogers said, masterfully keeping his face neutral. “Nobody is sure about Loki right now, about where he stands or what side he’s on, or in fact, anything, but we’ve all got to acknowledge that Loki was severely injured because he stayed behind to cover our escape. Without proof that he’s lying, I’m going to believe him when he says he killed that thing. The main thing is that Loki is now injured and he needs to recover, Thor is free, and we have a safehouse for the time being to let them heal up. Arguing is not going to help. So why don’t you explain what you were doing there?”

Sif, as she has always done, took over the explanations before anyone could think to respond. “We were there to rescue Thor. We’d heard he was being kept in the dungeon. The resistance was going to stage a distraction to let us slip inside when a commotion occurred. We didn’t know what was going on, but decided to take advantage of it anyway. We didn’t expect to see _Loki_. Now, might you explain who _you_ are?”

“We’re the Avengers, from Earth. We were there when Loki grabbed Thor.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?”

Rogers frowned at Hogun. “We _tried_. We were within inches of grabbing him, but didn’t make it in time.”

“What happened to Jane?” Thor asked and blinked as he noticed Loki was glaring at him fiercely.

“She’s fine, apart from a big bruise.”

“Bruise?”

“Well, Loki smacked her one hard.”

Thor returned the glare now. “Loki!”

“You defend her, but I fail to see why!” the man hissed. “She was demanding of me, as if she had any right! I did not send you back by _choice_ , Thor! I refused to gamble with Frigga’s life and to be demanded answers by someone who doesn’t deserve you is infuriating!”

Thor stared at him. It hadn’t occurred to him that Loki would have a specific reason to dislike Jane other than that she was from Midgard. “Loki… Why do you—”

“She is _inferior_ in every way, Thor! She’ll die in the blink of an eye compared to us and how do you know that her _affections_ are not merely fascination because you are from Asgard?! When has she ever asked anything about _you_ , instead of Asgard or the tree?! Has she asked anything about your childhood? Has she ever acknowledged that I exist, because I am an indelible part of _your_ life?! You spent a mere _three days_ with her before you did not see her for two years! No matter how much you have Heimdall watch her, did you have a burning feeling to return to _her_ or to Midgard?!”

Thor shifted at that question because the answer was not so much Jane, but Midgard itself. Everything that Loki pointed out was…true. He wanted to defend Jane, as they hadn’t had a lot of time together to ask much of anything, but their conversations had always revolved around Asgard and her childish excitement of it. She had never seemed to wonder about how he had grown up with Loki, or his life before her, what he had done. Questions, he now realized that the Avengers had asked him as friends and Jane had not. Did that…mean anything?

Loki’s head dropped back onto the bed and he moaned in pain, hands touching his stomach and then drawing back quickly as if the lightest touch was unbearable. Thor moved the torn shirt he wore entirely, leaving him in just his leather pants. “Let us not speak of Jane anymore,” he whispered, mostly because he had a lot to think about, things that he had just never noticed and now made him wonder. “Loki, sleep, please.”

“You know, Thor, you should probably sleep too,” Tony pointed out. “You’re looking just as bad as he is and you were tortured.”

Now that it was pointed out, he was beginning to feel his exhaustion and he eased himself over his brother’s body, becoming a buffer between Loki and the wall. Loki grumbled, his eyes sliding closed at being jostled, but perhaps it was because he was in so much pain that he didn’t argue when Thor slid his arm under his neck as a pillow.

“…I didn’t really mean cuddle him, but that works…” the genius muttered.

He began to slip into sleep as he heard Volstagg comment that they should send someone quiet to patrol the house and make sure no guards had found it.  



	5. Chapter 5

Loki’s eyes fluttered open and he would never say how much effort that took him. His wounds were nothing to scoff at and he struggled not to continue to sleep as his body knitted itself back together. There was a warmth on his right side and something hard underneath his neck. The room was quiet, the occasional murmur nearby. As memory returned to him, he took a quick assessing glance at where he was.

Still the same house as before, but now it was daylight, given the light coming in through the cracks of the closed windows. The Warrior’s Three and Sif were gone, not that Loki wanted them there. Banner had fallen into a doze at the table and the other Avengers were having murmured conversations near the door, keeping an eye out for whenever they heard footsteps nearby.

That something hard beneath his neck was Thor’s arm, he noted, the hand attached to it lightly touching his shoulder. The motion of turning his head woke his brother and their eyes met. While Loki knew that movement would not reopen the wound in his stomach, after all Asgardians healed very quickly, that didn’t mean that he was keen to aggravate it.

“Loki?”

He couldn’t help but notice that Thor, at least, was recovering. He looked far better after a few hours rest than he had when they’d found him in the dungeon. The bruises had faded and just by how he moved, he could tell he had more energy. Apparently what had been done to Thor with Gungnir was temporary and some enchantment on the chains binding him had kept him weak. Away from both, he was returning to full strength. The question remained as to just where Mjolnir was.

Only when Thor shifted did Loki realize that he was being held close, in an embrace. He frowned heavily. While he would not have given much thought to it before a thousand years ago in their youth, things were different now. Thor should not be holding a convicted criminal like this, no matter how…surprisingly good and nostalgic it felt. Besides, he still hated Thor. The only reason he’d rescued him was because their enemy had attacked him first, forced him to, and he would do anything to get back at him.

“Let me go, Thor.”

Thor ignored his command. “How are your wounds?”

“Did you go deaf? I ordered you to unhand me. Or are you going to attempt to restrain me, arrest me?”

Thor frowned. “Loki, we can’t afford an argument between us now.”

“There will be no argument if you release me.”

Thor rolled his eyes, but finally removed his arm from around his waist. “Do you know anything, Loki? Where mother and father are, or how they came to invade Asgard?”

“No, but then I doubt any of those attacking left Asgard with the exception of their leader,” he mused. “The man attracted disaffected warriors, ones who have felt wronged in some way by Asgard and the Allfather. Why bring an army when you can raise one in the land of your enemy?”

“You think there are truly that many warriors that are not loyal to the Allfather?”

Loki snorted. “Odin Borson is not like _you_ , Thor. He is not a man that inspires loyalty, but rather commands it. He isn’t charismatic in the least and he rules with fear of his power.”

Whatever Thor might say, the last thing he expected to hear was, “You think I’m charismatic?”

He glared at the attempt to lighten the mood and tried not to smile in return at the infectious grin on Thor’s face. For a single, brief second, it felt as if they were back to their childhood before everything had gone completely and utterly wrong. The moment left quickly, leaving Loki bitter and sad at all that he had lost.

-0-

“There’s more to your hatred than just what Loki’s done.”

Natasha watched as the female warrior, Sif, turned to look at her. They had stopped outside the door to where they had taken refuge and the Avenger didn’t want an audience for this. In one way, Natasha did admire her, that she had managed to claw her way to a position in a society that clearly was dominated by men. It was something that she was intimately familiar with. At the same time, she could already see the weaknesses of this woman, her emotions that made it hard to move on. There was some reason that Sif was resentful, hated Loki, and by refusing to work with him, she was jeopardizing everything they were trying to accomplish. They had rescued Thor, but that was not enough. Now they had to take back Asgard.

“What Loki has done is unforgivable and he should not even have been allowed to live. Had it been anyone other than Loki, the Allfather would have ordered his death, not so lenient a punishment.”

It was not as if Natasha couldn’t sympathize either on both counts. The privileges of rank often meant that normal consequences didn’t apply, but she hardly considered life in prison lenient when one considered that Asgardians lived for thousands of years. She eyed the woman, taking in her tells and there was definitely something more there.

“What has Loki done to you personally?”

Sif blinked. “What? Nothing.”

Natasha stepped forward a bit with a soft frown as she quickly talked her way to where she wanted the woman to admit. “But there must be, because your hatred is personal. You act as if he has wronged _you_ , not Asgard or Earth.”

“Loki hurt Thor and for that, I will never forgive him.”

Thor. The single name made it all make sense. “You’re in love with Thor, aren’t you?” There was a moment where she thought Sif might deny it, but after a quick glance around, she nodded. “You haven’t told him.”

“No. His heart belongs to another.”

It couldn’t be Jane she was referring to because this was, clearly, a long-standing issue and these people had been alive _long before_ Jane had ever been born. So who would claim his heart—oh. Oh. “…Loki,” she whispered in surprise.

Sif nodded grimly. “He has loved Loki for a very long time, not that he has ever noticed his feelings. When Loki betrayed Thor, he hurt him more deeply than he’ll ever know.”

So this was why she refused to work with Loki. Jealousy, resentment, and hatred were clouding her thoughts and while Natasha _did_ sympathize on a certain level, she was also annoyed even more. For someone that had made a place among these warriors, that fought hard to keep it, she couldn’t put aside her emotions to focus on something greater. Natasha had learned that trick at a very early age and while she didn’t _like_ Loki, Loki was truly invaluable right then. She could hide her dislike, work around it, and just focus on the work.

“It’s worse than that for you, though, isn’t it? Because you can see that Loki returns these feelings for Thor even though he doesn’t know it either.”

There was a twitch under Sif’s eye at that, but Natasha knew she had struck gold. So this was everything then. Sif was resentful and bitter that despite everything Loki had done, Thor was clearly more than willing to give the benefit of the doubt, to take him back no matter what. Between her jealousy that neither man could help, Loki’s actions causing Thor to be in emotional pain, and her frustration that Loki had ‘special treatment’ in his punishment, she was more than willing to refuse to work with the man. The only thing that could make her…

“I realize your feelings and you’ve been carrying them for a long time,” Natasha said seriously, approaching the woman that looked as if she wanted to be anywhere but there. “However, they don’t really matter, do they? Asgard has been taken over and Thor needs Loki, so you need to put aside what you feel. If you don’t, Thor is just going to continue doing what he wants regardless of your presence, and we don’t have a lot of fighters on our side. We’ll need every single warrior we can get. Are you really going to let him be injured, or even die, because you’re jealous?”

She let the words hang in the air, entering the small house and glancing over at the two brothers. They were deep in conversation, their faces inches apart and seeming entirely relaxed. It was easy to see their feelings and even easier to know that they had absolutely no idea how they felt about one another. She shook her head. Really, she had come here to help Thor and stop the invaders, not play relationship counselor. Looking at her compatriots, at the line up she had to work with, she despaired. Not one of them, with the possible exception of Barton, would be at all useful so that left her.

Damn it all. She just did not get paid enough for this.

-0-

“We will plan the assault for tomorrow,” Thor said as he sat on the bed, a hand seeming to rest unconsciously on Loki’s shoulder. Loki was on his side, facing the room with his back to his brother and surprisingly didn’t shrug it off. Or perhaps he’d given up on removing it. “Loki’s injuries will have healed completely by then.”

“What about the boom stick?” When Thor looked at Stark, confused, the genius rolled his eyes and clarified, “The hammer.”

“Mjolnir is safe and she will come at my call.”

Barton silently remained in his chair next to Natasha. They’d spoken at length about the issues between the Asgardians and he was no more thrilled about the situation than she was. Despite the talk, the tension was thick enough that even the sharpest knives couldn’t cut it and Loki argued fiercely with Sif over her suggestions to the battle plans. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure why Natasha felt like she had to resolve the issue between the two, but he wouldn’t let her do it alone once she’d asked for his help.

His eyes flickered to their friends. He could see why she’d asked him: because no one else would work. Tony wouldn’t be subtle enough, and he didn’t know what Rogers thought of gay couples at all much less ones that were raised as brothers. The only reasonable one to count on would be Banner, but he was a tad too…gentle for this. Not manipulative enough. So that left just them.

He was just as glad he was stuck with Thor, because Loki seemed to respond the best to Natasha, had a grudging respect for her and her alone.

“I need to return to the palace for armor.”

“That is not a good idea!” Fandral butted in as Loki sat up. “Our enemy knows we’re here somewhere, they’re on high alert, you’ll _never_ get in without letting them know and then you’ll lead them right to us when you return. _If_ you return.”

“Of everyone here, let us all acknowledge that I am, by far, the most useful,” Loki snarled. “The lot of you wouldn’t know how to be stealthy if your lives depended on it! The only people in this room that could possibly manage to be useful in this respect are _those two_ ,” and he pointed straight at Natasha and Clint, “and they don’t have any idea where they’re going or what they’re looking for. So, please, Fandral. _Enlighten me_ as to who’s going to get me something for battle. Or would you prefer I go nude, the better to get injured and die?”

There was a pause, just a little one, and he could hear Thor let out a growl before Fandral said, “Of course not.”

“No, _of course not_ ,” Loki said sarcastically. “You would just prefer I remain alive to continue the remainder of my sentence? All _one hundred thousand years_ of it?”

“Yes,” Sif said hotly. “The Allfather has chosen to spare your life and when this is over, you will be returned to your rightful punishment. In accordance to his judgment, we will _make sure_ you stay alive so you can resume it.”

Rogers stepped forward as a look of rage flashed over Loki’s face. “Then let Loki get his armor. He’s right, none of us are stealthy enough except Clint and Natasha and they don’t know where they’re going.”

“He should not go alone,” Hogun stated, though with his neutral tone, it was difficult to tell what his opinion was. “If he was caught, there is someone to help him fight his way free.”

“I’ll go,” Natasha said, sharing a meaningful look with Clint. “I’m quick and I’m fast.” Her eyes looked right at Loki’s displeasure. “Unless you prefer Agent Barton?”

Barton didn’t take offense at all at the even less enthused expression thrown his way. “If I _must_ take one of you, I suppose you are the lesser of all evils.”

Clint watched them finalize plans and argue about it for another ten minutes before leaving. He waited to make sure no one wanted to speak to Thor before sliding over to him and sitting on the edge of the bed with him. He hadn’t had a personal conversation with Thor yet, not a deep one, and he wasn’t sure how well received what he was going to talk about was, but he hid his uncertainty. “How are your injuries?”

“I am well. The weakness has left. I need but Mjolnir and then I can battle once more.”

He leaned back against the wall. “So what do you think about what Loki did?”

Thor’s blue eyes regarded him warily, but seemed to take comfort in the appearance of just a simple question. “I have not and will not blame him for what he did. I would do the same in his position and he is infinitely closer to mother than I am. I knew that he would return for me, never had a doubt of it.”

“Why do you have such confidence in him now after all he’s done?”

The god blinked, as if he hadn’t thought to question it. “I…don’t know, but I just knew to my soul that he would return to free me.”

How could Thor not see what he felt? It couldn’t have been more obvious than if he’d started to sing about it. “Does this mean you forgive him?”

Thor sighed. “I know this isn’t what I should say, particularly as a prince of Asgard after what he has done, but I was always willing to forgive him if he showed the slightest hint of the man I once knew. I tried, I begged him to stop and return home.”

“You must be close to him then.”

“I was once. Once I felt that I could tell you with absolute certainty what Loki felt about anything, but now I wonder if I ever knew him or if what I thought he would say was in fact just what I wanted him to be feeling. Now I will freely admit that I have no idea what he feels or thinks. It…hurts.”

Barton nodded, deciding to try a different tack. This was _not_ his expertise and he couldn’t help but think that perhaps Natasha would have gotten what she needed by now. “So will you return to Earth when this is over?”

Thor stared at the wall, not seeming to really see it. “I don’t know, but if I do, it will not be immediately. I want to remain here, to fight for Loki’s freedom. What he has done, his actions, have redeemed him and I would not see him return to his sentence after what has happened.”

“And Jane?”

The single blink told him all he needed to know. Jane had not crossed his mind even once when he thought about his immediate future. “What about her?”

“Thor, why do you like Jane?” Deciding to be a bit blunter, Barton met his eyes. “I hear you talk more passionately about Loki than you do about her.” There was a flush across his cheeks, perhaps of shame? “You never realized you were doing that?”

“No.”

“It almost sounds like it’s not Jane you’re in love with, but Loki.”

He had said the words in a whisper, making sure that none could hear it. The last thing he wanted to do was inflame the warrior woman’s temper. Thor’s eyes were wide as saucers because no matter what Loki said, the man wasn’t an idiot. Barton didn’t make the statement a question; he made it clear that the ‘almost’ was mere politeness and he was convinced that Thor did indeed love his brother.

“I…”

“I’m not saying anything bad, Thor, but it’s pretty clear that you’re head over heels for him. Just think back over our conversation and your life. Tell me honestly it’s not true. Or how about this: tell me, could you see yourself marrying Jane? Could you see having kids with her? What about battles? Thor, you love to have a good fight and if you’re talking about spending the rest of your life with someone romantically, don’t you envision that person fighting right next to you?” He waited until Thor nodded hesitantly. “Jane can’t do that, Thor. She won’t be able to keep up with you, if she was even interested.Can you imagine a future with Loki next to you constantly? Would you _want_ that future? How badly do you want it?”

Thor ran his hands through his messy hair and let out a heavy puff of air from his lungs. “…You’re right. Everything you’ve said…is right. How could I not see it? I love Loki…dearly. I want for nothing more than to be at his side for the rest of my life.”

He smiled a little in reassurance. “Sometimes the closer you are to a problem, the harder it is to see.” He let the idea settle in the god’s mind, wondering just how many doubts had plagued the man before he’d brought up the conversation. What had he been thinking since Loki had spat at him that Jane was unworthy of her, pointed out all the logical things that the man was too oblivious to notice until then?

Now the million dollar question. “So what are you planning on doing about it?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at battle scenes. Really badly. If it’s bad, forgive me.
> 
>  
> 
> Warning: Mentions of past sexual violence.

  
They made it to his room safely, bypassing all the guards that roamed the palace walls. Loki kept his magic to a minimum just in case, but much to his surprise, he didn’t really _have_ to use any of it. The agent of SHIELD was almost as good as he was and she seemed to know just how to move where he needed her to be. It was the first time he’d ever worked with anyone that seemed to use with his same agile fighting style.

Knowing there were no guards in his room, he didn’t bother to crouch or move cautiously through the room, instead going straight to a chest that kept his armor. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Natasha looked around her at what he’d used to own. They hadn’t said anything to each other on the way there and really, Loki could almost ignore her entirely.

“There’s a lot of bad blood between you and Thor’s friends,” she commented.

Almost.

He sighed as he yanked out what he needed, tossing it on the bed before giving her a faint sneer. Rather than answer her, he said, “Speak plainly so we might get this over with more quickly. I have no time for a leisurely chat.”

She eyed him before shifting her weight, bracing her legs apart slightly as if she knew he wasn’t going to like what she was about to say. “All right, fine. You’re in love with Thor, aren’t you?”

His hands froze as he grabbed a pair of boots and gave her a look as if she’d gone mad. “What madness has gripped you, Avenger?”

“None. It’s _obvious_ and apparently only you can’t see it.” She wandered closer to him as if she had nothing more pressing to be doing. “The way you look at him, no matter what you say to the contrary, is not _hate_. If you really hated him, would you waste your time with him? You keep coming back to Thor time and again. Why did you come back here to rescue him? You could have easily escaped and left him to his fate. You say it’s because of your enemy, but if you think about it, he did you a favor. You released yourself from his restraints, were free to disappear anywhere, and you came back. For Thor.”

“For my mother.”

“Yet you rescued Thor first.”

“He will be more useful in the attack. Better he gets his head bashed in than my mother’s.”

Her eyebrows rose in patented disbelief. “Oh? From what Thor has told me about your mother, she has an amazing skill set, almost better than your own. You didn’t _have_ to rescue Thor first, and yet you did.”

She was standing right next to his frozen form now and he had that same feeling he’d had after he realized she had manipulated him on the airship. Like he had somehow walked right into her carefully laid verbal trap. He absolutely hated it. “You know nothing, Avenger, and you should keep your words to yourself before I take them from you,” he hissed in anger, turning and yanking on the leather armor he’d set on his bed.

“Think about Thor for a minute, Loki. Just think back to how he looked at you in that room, how you looked at him. When you arrived there, injured, your eyes immediately went to him and you never once questioned him. No matter what you say, you _trust_ Thor with your very life…and I think you trusted him with your heart a long time ago.”

Loki wanted to whirl on her, tell her she was wrong, perhaps even hit for the implications…but if there was anyone that could manipulate as well as he, it was Natasha. Her words brought those thoughts unbidden to his mind and he knew, damn her, that she was right. He’d looked right at Thor when he’d stumbled into the small house; the only reason he’d forced Thor to let go of him that morning had been because he shouldn’t be holding a criminal, not because he didn’t like it. Cautiously he mentally tried to put Thor in a romantic light, the thought of them together as lovers, to see how it would fit.

And it fitted perfectly. The idea fell into place as if it had been meant all along and he was not only comfortable with the idea, but wanted it. Frowning to himself, sure that this would prove Natasha wrong, he deliberately thought about sex with his brother. Specifically he chose to imagine himself beneath the man, sure that this would make him recoil and prove her wrong.

It felt _natural_ , much to his shock. There was no bile, no recoil, at the thought of being intimate with Thor. In fact he had to shy away so quickly because he could feel his body growing a bit warm. Instead of revulsion, he felt…excitement and want. It appeared as if he would have no problem with acting on these feelings, lust and otherwise; he would have no problem being…vulnerable.

She took his silence for what it was. “You come back to him again and again because you _love_ him. Now the only thing you need to decide is what to do about it.”

“ _That_ is simple,” he told her, finishing the straps and checking his daggers. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Thor has, for some unfathomable reason, given his heart to one of you Midgardians. Even if he hadn’t, I’m still a criminal here. There’s nothing to be done about it.” He turned to her swiftly and glared at her in a deadly fashion, but if she was affected by it, she didn’t show it. “And you will take what you know to your grave. If you breathe a word of this conversation to anyone, most of all Thor, I will make sure it is an early one.”

“Do you realize at all that Thor, being Thor, is not going to let you go back to your prison cell after you’ve helped him save your family and Asgard?” She flicked at imaginary dust on her uniform before heading toward the door. “Besides, I wouldn’t be too certain of his feelings for Jane.”

Loki found himself moving, shoving her up against the door with his hand around her neck. “What do you know, Avenger?”

She looked back at him without a flicker of fear on his face. “Why don’t you tell Thor about this conversation and see what he says.”

“ _Avenger_ …”

Before he could continue his threats, they both heard the sound of booted feet walking past the closed door. This was not the time or place for this conversation, they had dawdled too long…but it was not the end of it.

-0-

His eyes drifted to his brother, who was standing at the table and speaking with the other Avengers. Their eyes met when he and Natasha slipped back in and damn the woman. Loki couldn’t _unsee_ the things that had come to his mind. They were there to stay. His eyes narrowed and rather than looking away, signaling for sure that something was wrong to Thor, he stalked up. “We must attack tonight.”

“Do you even know if the Allfather is alive?”

He glared at Sif. “Does it matter? If he is, all the better that we attack before our enemies kill him. If he isn’t, then waiting isn’t going to save him.”

Thor gave the woman a sharp glare to stop her chastisement and he felt a burn of satisfaction of that at least. Loki could put no stock in the idea that Thor _wouldn’t_ put him back in prison; Sif and the Warrior’s Three certainly would if given a choice. The last thing Loki wanted was to go back and he knew that he had to start silently thinking of an escape plan as soon as he had killed the man who had started this coup.

“Loki is right,” Thor said after an awkward silence. “If we knew for certain that father was alive, then we could consider waiting, but we have no…evidence that he is.” The pause was enough to let Loki know that Thor was not as calm as he appeared at the thought of his father dead, but he was doing his best to push it down so that he could concentrate on the task at hand.

“There isn’t enough of us to separate and surround the castle,” Loki said with a frown. “The idea of a few going around the back will only weaken those attacking.”

“There are others besides those in this room,” Fandral pointed out. “The resistance—”

“I refuse to put my mother’s life in the hands of people that I don’t know,” he spat, glaring at the blonde haired warrior.

“You don’t have a choice! There are more guards that he has under his command than we can handle alone!”

Loki wanted to argue, wanted to do it all himself because then he could be assured it would be _done right_ , but he knew tactically that he couldn’t. Fandral, damn him, was right. There was no way that he could fight all of them, he’d lose even with his magic and he was not Thor. He was not stupid enough to insist on it. He also knew that not one of those warriors Fandral spoke of would listen to him. He’d be lucky if they didn’t turn on him and stab him in the back.

“I think you should stick with Thor, Loki,” Stark said, eerily voicing his thoughts. “With your…reputation and all, the new guys might get confused as to what side you’re fighting on.”

“You think I have not thought of that?” he hissed.

Thor’s hand came to land on his shoulder and it rankled him at how it calmed his blazing temper. He had never _noticed_ these feelings before and he wished he never had. Now it was going to make things so much more difficult. “I will command any Asgardian that wishes to fight,” Thor said. “They will know Loki to be our ally.”

“What of your new friends?”

At Hogun’s question, Thor looked at the Midgardians that had come with Loki. “I am in no position to command them. They will do as they see fit as they always have.”

The genius was grinning at that and in fact, most of the Avengers seemed pleased, but Loki was sure that if Thor had given them orders, they would have followed them regardless. It was clear of that in the silence and Loki found he envied them with a passion. There used to be such…camaraderie between him and his brother and that was forever gone. There was no chance that they could resurrect their old companionable relationship, much less start something new. Even if, by some miracle, that Thor managed to keep him from his prison cell, did anyone think that the Allfather would allow Thor to have a relationship of any kind with the Jotun traitor?

“We attack at dusk,” he insisted viciously and this time no one argued with him.

-0-

The fighting was vicious and Loki longed to break away, to delve into the palace and find Frigga, but Thor had kept him resolutely at his side ever since they had started the assault. He’d had to stop more than a few warriors trying to kill the trickster and it was taking too much time. He tried to argue with the god of thunder, tell him it was pointless, but nothing would move his brother.

He was about to ignore the orders of Thor when he spotted the man he sought. He was moving away from the fighting, away from the battle that he was inexorably losing, and Loki spun on his heel. He heard his name being called behind him, but he was too quick for Thor to grab. Once he saw where he was going, Loki wrapped his magic around him, teleporting to the bridge leading to the Bifrost. His presence was abruptly in front of the man that had forced him to kidnap Thor, causing him to stop abruptly.

There was a moment where they just stood there in silence, the sounds of battle near the palace still carried on the air. “Did you get my message?” he asked conversationally.

“Yes.”

“Good. Then we can commence the ‘killing you’ part I’ve been looking forward to.”

“You don’t even want to know who I am?”

“I don’t care,” he said, noting the surprise that flashed over the sorcerer’s face. “It doesn’t _matter_ who you are, only that you crossed me and that you won’t be around much longer to regret it.”

His enemy disappeared and reappeared behind him, but Loki whirled and blocked the dagger with his own before it could land in his back. The man leaned in and whispered, “Aleifr.”

The name froze his heart for a moment and a tremble went through his muscles as it registered, bringing back a flood of memories that he had forgotten. He swallowed thickly, clumsily attempting to block a spell in sheer shock, but he didn’t get his shield up in enough time, throwing him back against the bridge. Before Aleifr could move forward to finish the job, he was slammed with Mjolnir, forcing him to fly back through the air.

As Loki levered himself to his feet, he heard Thor and the Avengers behind him. Aleifr. No, this was going to be _his_ fight alone. With a growl he gestured in front of him and those that had run up bounced off an invisible shield a few feet away. “Loki!” Thor shouted, pounding one fist against it.

“This is my fight,” he said savagely. He would not have this stolen from him. Turning back Aleifr, he commented almost conversationally,  “I was told you were dead.”

“Then the Allfather lied to you once again,” Aleifr responded with a sick grin.

“Who is this asshole?!” Iron Man demanded behind him. “If you knew who he was, then why the hell didn’t you tell us?!”

“I didn’t know,” he spat, looking over his shoulder only briefly. “As I said, I was told that he was dead and the last time I knew this cretin, he looked significantly different!” He smiled, lips curling in a feral fashion. “I’m actually pleased that now I can take my revenge myself.”

“What revenge?”

Loki lashed out with his ice to keep him from speaking, sending a spear aiming for his chest, but Aleifr met it with a blast of fire. A look of evil glee came over his face. “Oh, you don’t know? Shall we tell them, Loki? How _tight_ you were? How you screamed?”

There was a moment of pregnant silence and Loki felt both shame and a rage he had not felt since that time well in his throat. He resisted the urge to let out an animal-like cry. He wanted to stop it, wanted to make sure no one else but he and Odin knew what had happened, but if he did that, it would show Aleifr weakness. He had always felt an almost bitter disappointment that Odin had told him that he had been taken care of, preventing him from killing him himself.

There was a vicious, dangerous growl from the Hulk and that large fist slammed forcefully down on the shield that kept the Avengers from Loki. It was starting to sink in to them. “Tell me you didn’t do what I think you just meant,” Natasha whispered deep in her throat.

“You mean how I held him down and took him against his will? Do you mean that? Oh, but I did. Not once, but twice. The second time was better because he was in so much pain from the first time that day that he couldn’t fight.” Aleifr’s smugness disappeared and he looked livid. “He deserved it. Because he was the son of the Allfather, he thought he had a right to outstrip us? To make our magic seem as if it was nothing?! Why should he be allowed to progress in mere months when some of us had been training there for years?! And like a _coward_ , when he went home, he told his father!”

His eyes turned to Loki and there was no denying the pure hate there, the desire to see him dead. “You thought I was dead. What the Allfather did was _worse_ than death. After he nearly broke my entire body, he _stripped me of my magic_! I could no longer feel it, then he banished me! If I had not found _them_ , I would never have gained any magic again! Do you know what that’s like? To feel so _empty_ inside? You still _had_ your magic in that cell, but I felt hollow! It was _gone_!”

Loki actually felt a crack in his shield as Thor lifted Mjolnir in both hands and brought all his strength to bear on the barrier keeping him from Aleifr. He dared not look around at those behind him; the distraction might prove fatal. “And who did you find, to teach you this magic?”

“You should know,” Aleifr hissed. “You met them as well.”

“The Chitauri.”

“They were my teachers first and who did you think told them all about you, how to break you, what buttons to play on? I’ve been planning this revenge against the house of Odin for a very  long time and I will _break_ you as I was once broken.”

“You will never break me,” he said emphatically, fingering his daggers. “Now that you have bored us all with telling a tale that no longer matters to me, can we move on to the part where I kill you?”

“If it no longer matters, then why are you bent on your revenge?”

Loki laughed derisively at him. “Oh, were you too stupid to realize what I meant? I don’t care about what you did to me before. The Allfather hurt you in ways even _I_ couldn’t. I feel _satisfied_ now, knowing what he did, than just assuming you were dead. No, this revenge is for _now_ , for presuming you could order me to do anything, to control me. For daring to threaten the family of Loki Odinson! You…are and always will be _nothing_ , Aleifr, and that I shall prove to you.”

His spell collided with Aleifr’s and the resulting explosion left his ears ringing, but didn’t distract him enough not to realize that the man had suddenly closed in on him. His world had narrowed to the flash of blades, the feel of magic, and he paid no attention to what was going on behind him. He grunted when one of Aleifr’s daggers managed to stab his side, but he used the opportunity to bring his own forth and toward the man’s face. He jerked back, but not before Loki had left a deep laceration over his left eye, rendering it useless.

Aleifr did not roar in pain, but he didn’t expect him to. If he had found the Chitauri, he had experience with all manner of pain and while he didn’t know what they had done to give the man magic again once Odin had stripped it of him, it likely had involved a lot of sacrifice. Loki felt no pity, no empathy, or sympathy for him. Aleifr meant nothing to him from their past, as he had made peace with that long ago, even more so now knowing what had been done to him.

His blood cried out for vengeance not for the past but for what he’d been forced to do to Thor, for the worry over Frigga’s life, and the unknown of what had happened to Odin. The image of Thor on his knees in that cell flashed in his mind and he growled a little under his throat, wanting nothing more to than to strangle him with his bare hands. He would allow _no one_ to harm the man he loved. No one.

So concentrated on his battle he didn’t realize until too late that there was something even more powerful than Mjolnir nearby. A blast of pure magic shattered his shield and he ducked to the left just in time to avoid it, only to gasp when he realized he didn’t have enough space. As he lost his footing he realized it would be just like two years ago, but at least this time he knew how to live in the abyss between worlds.

Someone grabbed his wrist and stopped his fall abruptly and he looked up to see none other than the Hulk who had somehow made it across the distance to him. He was pulled up and tossed unceremoniously onto the bridge and Loki let out a grunt of pain as it jostled his stabbed side. As he sat up, he tried to peer around the legs that were suddenly in his way, eyes hunting for Aleifr. He was further away, toward the Bifrost, and he was curled on the ground, arms clutching at his chest. Odin stood over him, Gungnir clenched in his hand so tightly that his knuckles were white. “I forbid you to return,” he said quietly, but the menace was clear.

“Why didn’t you just kill me last time?!” Aleifr said, levering himself to his feet despite the pain, hands becoming red with blood.

“Because a life without what you valued most, banished from your home, was a far more fitting punishment for what you did to my son.”

“That coward of a son that ran away the day after it happened?!”

“Loki can be called many things, but a coward is not one of them!” Thor spat and Loki realized that the only reason he was still standing there was because he was being held back by the Hulk, Steve, and Stark.

“Loki did not tell me of what happened to him,” Odin said, as if it mattered. “He told no one. I discovered it on my own.” His fingers ran along Gungnir. “Aleifr, you have transgressed too far. Your punishment for attacking Asgard is death.”

“As if you have the power to kill me now!” he spat.

Loki felt the spell as his hand suddenly threw out. He teleported quickly before anyone thought to stop him, and buried his dagger in the man’s heart, taking the blast of fire right to his chest in place of his father. He grunted in pain but locked his knees, refusing to show weakness or just how badly he’d been hurt. There was a faint sound and he allowed the body of his enemy to fall forward onto him and then onto the bridge.

Panting, trying to lock away the pain in his mind, his leather armor in tatters, he knew it was over. If he was going to escape, now was the time. He had to leave quickly before—Odin’s hand touched his shoulder and Loki felt himself lose consciousness, crumpling to the floor and cursing that he was just not that fast enough.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not worksafe.

Loki groaned a little, blinking slowly at the daylight that streamed in through the open window. His side was still stinging of soreness, but not the sharp pain of when he’d been stabbed. It was quiet and he remained still, refusing to panic. A quick glance around determined that he was, indeed, alone. No guards posted on him? There were no manacles binding his wrists or chains. He sat up, realizing as the silken sheets rubbed against his skin that he was naked, in his own bed from two years past, and healed from his wounds. In fact, judging by the feel of him, someone had bathed him. His hair felt clean and so did his body.

He chewed on his bottom lip briefly and glanced around. No one had set out any clothes for him, so either they didn’t expect him to be up or they were trying to hold him hostage by keeping him nude. Neither would stop him if he really wanted to leave, of course, so he didn’t know what they were playing at. Frowning, he sent a gentle, exploratory tug with his magic and found it bumped up a soft shield that had the name ‘Frigga’ written all over it. It didn’t stop his magic, clearly, but it was preventing something. Narrowing his eyes, he realized that it was preventing him from teleporting. That was all. So if he wanted to leave, it would have to be the old fashioned way.

Loki didn’t even consider attempting to break her spell because while he was good, Frigga was just that hair better than he was even after all this time. He was about to throw the furs off and get up when the door opened. He froze, lifting his hand, but managed to stop the spell just in time. Thor looked at him seriously, but refused to make eye contact. Instead, his gaze had landed on Loki’s neck, his collarbone, anywhere but his eyes.

Just around the corner he thought he spotted one or two Avengers, but it was so quick that he couldn’t be sure. He did know that it wasn’t Sif or the Warrior’s Three. “What do you want?” he spat. “Why am I here?”

Thor moved forward, closing the door behind him and he dropped heavily on the bed. “You’ve been asleep for three days, Loki.”

His eyes narrowed as he took in the haggard appearance and the bruises that were forming on his cheek and eye. “What happened to you? Those are fresh bruises, not from the battle or your torture.”

“…I sparred with the green monster.”

“From when? Twelve hours ago?” he asked sarcastically, given Thor’s exhausted appearance.

“Longer.”

His eyebrows rose and he wondered then if the person he thought he had spotted had been Banner. “Why?”

“I needed…”

It suddenly clicked in his mind and Loki sighed, letting himself fall back against the headboard of the bed, only making the slightest token to keep the furs at his waist level. He really didn’t care if Thor saw him, because it wasn’t as if Thor would _care_ to see him naked. “This is about what Aleifr said, isn’t it? I’m fine, Thor. It was a very, very long time ago. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t bother you anymore, Loki. It bothers _me_. I should have… I should have noticed, I should have been there.” His hand clenched into a fist, that fist clearly almost trembling with the need to hit something again. “It…disgusts me that I didn’t stop it.”

“By all the Norns, Thor, _you weren’t even there_! They’d hardly have welcomed you, your magic is pathetically small. What happened, happened and—”

“Loki”

He hid his gasp as suddenly those callused fingers were holding his face, making sure their gazes locked. He could see the anguish and rage that he had taken out on the green beast. He could see why: at full strength, nothing could stand against Thor other than the Hulk and it was a telling point how close the god was to the humans that Banner agreed to his spar.

“I’m sorry.”

He blinked at the whispered words. “While I dearly love to hear those words out of your mouth, you’ve done so much in your life that you have to apologize to me for so I’m going to have to ask you to tell me _what_ you’re referring to.”

Thor’s thumb caressed his cheek. “For being arrogant and letting you do everything on your own in the past.”

Loki’s eyebrow rose in amazement and he eyed his brother, but Thor honestly seemed to be telling him the truth. He honestly seemed…apologetic for what had happened in the past. The thing was, Loki didn’t want to think about the past. He couldn’t change it and no amount of apologizing would do that either. “Why am I here?” he repeated. “Why am I not in chains? I’m surprised I woke up to find that there wasn’t a sword to my throat. Sif would love nothing more than to lop off my head.”

“Your punishment has ended. You saved Asgard and Father’s life.”

“And there was no backlash? I find that hard to believe, and I didn’t do it for Asgard or the Allfather either. What of the Avengers then? Shall I be brought back in chains to Midgard?”

“No. Midgard accepted any judgment Father would make regarding your punishment and would not seek anything from you. You are…free, Loki.” He watched as his brother shifted in his seat. “Will you leave?”

“Why should I stay? I will forever be regarded with suspicion and likely assassination attempts.”

“I swear to you, Loki, that I will _never_ let anything happen to you again.”

“You would protect me for the rest of my life out of some misplaced feeling of guilt.”

“No, I would protect you for the rest of my life out of a feeling of love!”

Loki blinked, watching as a faint flush went up Thor’s cheeks and he looked away. “No. It can’t be.”

“What can’t be?”

“You’re _in love_ with me.” He felt a smile take his lips, but it felt like a mix of joy and torment. He eased forward with a smirk, letting the furs drop. Thor still wasn’t looking at him, but Loki didn’t care. He let his hands run down along his brother’s arms, crawling toward him on his knees as he settled half at his side and half at his back. “ _You_ , Thor Odinson, desire me.” His fingers lightly touched that strong neck, running up and down the corded muscles and feeling his brother shudder. “Tell me, brother dear.”

“I love you, Loki,” he whispered, leaning back toward him and this time he smiled in delight.

He threw one leg over one of Thor’s, landing his knee between them, and forcing the man to look at him. His blue eyes flickered down over his body and there was a heavy gulp. “How…delightful, Thor. I had no idea just how much you adored me.” Gently he leaned forward and pushed on his shoulders, smiling as Thor did as he silently ordered and fell back on the bed. “Shall I tell you that I haven’t been with anyone beyond that _incident_ that upsets you so much? That this body is pure as snow otherwise? Would that make you happy?”

Finally he settled, straddling Thor’s lap and letting his rear rest over his brother’s groin. He could feel the half-hard desire there, eyes fixed on him. His fingers lightly ran along the mail his brother wore, the cape and Mjolnir missing. He felt entirely in control of the whole situation, had the feeling that Thor would let him do just about anything he wanted to him. Fingers rubbed at his knees, his hands moving to ease up and rest on his bare thighs. He licked his lips, noting Thor’s eyes following the motion.

He blinked, his world interrupted by a sharp knock and the door being thrown open. “Thor, are you—”

Sif stared at them as they stared back, Loki without repentance. Thor made to move, but Loki’s legs, quite obviously, squeezed around those hips, forcing him to still. They all knew that if Thor wanted to get up, wanted to leave, he could, which made it all the clearer that he settled back down of his own free will. Loki could not help but smirk inwardly and the resentment he’d always felt flared up. For once, just this once, he would get the upper hand. “Ah, Lady Sif. To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked, as if he _wasn’t_ sitting on his brother nude.

Her back was stiff and her eyes were fiercely unhappy. “I came to find Thor.”

“Well Thor you have found, but he’s quite occupied at the moment. I’m afraid I have need of him here.” He rubbed along those chain links as if he were touching Thor’s chest and he leaned back just a little, almost displaying his naked body. There was the faintest of sounds from his brother beneath him and he felt those fingers squeeze his legs, felt him grow harder against his rear. He didn’t bother to hide the fact that sitting here like this, seeing his gorgeous brother splayed out beneath him on the bed was causing his own body to react with arousal.

Her eyes flickered to Thor’s face, who looked at her after a moment of embarrassed hesitation. “Thor?” The silent question of ‘do you need me to help you’ was loud and clear.

Loki waited, feeling his stomach tighten in knots. What would Thor do? Did he _really_ love Loki? Beyond that, could he bring himself to embrace his brother after all he had done? Thor looked back at him, long strands of blonde hair covering the furs beneath him almost like a crown of sunlight. His hands finally moved in a seductive caress up his thighs to his rear, gripping him tightly and squeezing. Loki couldn’t help a soft gasp at that, because the motion pulled him forward just slightly into the hips beneath him. He hadn’t done it to deliberately antagonize Sif, but there was a surge of satisfaction at the look on her face. It seemed a mixture of pain, disappointment, and anger.

“I’m fine, Sif. Does Father need me? Is it urgent?”

The only thing that could tear him away from Loki, he could see, was if it was an emergency and Loki watched Sif out of the corner of his eye at what she would do. Would she lie to pull Thor away? It would be petty and only delaying the inevitable, of course.

“No.” She stepped back into the hall. “I merely wished to speak to you about a private matter, but it can wait.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure, Thor.” She closed the door and he raised an eyebrow that she didn’t slam it.

He was still contemplating the wood, amazed that she _hadn’t_ lied, but then maybe he shouldn’t be. Thor would realize very quickly that there was no emergency and then likely grow angry. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he turned to the man beneath him. “Where were we? Oh, yes. That you desire me.” He gently began releasing the catches on his brother’s chain to remove it. “I will give you everything you desire. I can make your world heaven, pure pleasure. I can give you a high that no drug can hope to match. I can see to it that you will want for _nothing_ , take care of your _every need_. I ask very little in return.”

“I would give you anything, Loki.”

“Really? Will you give me your fidelity? I can wreck you with pleasure daily, nightly, with my body, but only if you belong to me, and me alone. One slip, one moment spent in another’s bed, and you will destroy it all.”

Thor understood what he was asking for, he could see the knowledge in his eyes. “Yes.”

“Even to give up your precious Jane Foster?”

“I love you, Loki.”

It was as if those words explained everything and maybe in some ways it did. Thor had always followed his emotions rather than his mind and if Thor well and truly loved him then he knew there would be no more loyal lover than he. “Very well,” he murmured, finally giving his brother a genuine smile and allowing himself to bask in the relief, the joy, he felt. The skepticism faded away and he finally let the chainmail drop on the floor next to the bed near his brother’s feet.

“Are you sure?” Thor abruptly asked and Loki blinked.

“About what?”

“You said that you haven’t been with anyone and the only other time you were—”

He leaned his rear back, listening to the soft moan of delight of from his brother. “Shall I prove it to you? I have no objection to spreading my legs for you. Is that what you want?” He leaned down and whispered in his ear. “You want to want me to ride you like a stallion? Do you want to feel how tight I am, thrust up into me with pure abandon?” He gently bit at Thor’s ear, feeling the man writhe. “Or perhaps you envision something more primal? Do you imagine holding me down, taking my freedom and then my body? Do you dream of leaning back in that throne with me on my knees, lips wrapped around your cock as you fuck my throat?”

“By the Norns, Loki! Please!”

“Is that all it takes to have you begging, Thor?” he whispered, hazy blue eyes watching as he lifted his fingers to press at his brother’s mouth. “Just a few simple words?” His digits disappeared into that wet heat and he shuddered when his tongue delightfully played against his skin. “I expect a lot from you, Thor Odinson. I expect you to lose yourself in your passion, to fuck me good and hard.”

Loki pulled his fingers away after a minute and sat up, sliding his hand to his own rear. Thor’s eyes were suddenly sharp and focused, watching every move he made as he began to prepare himself. He knew how it was _supposed_ to work at any rate. He leaned up a bit on his knees so that his free hand could tug at the lacings of his brother’s trousers. He ended up ripping them a bit, but so long as he was able to shove them to his knees, he didn’t care.

“You’re not as noble as they all think, are you, Thor?” he murmured, panting a bit. “You want to bury yourself in your brother’s body and release your seed, don’t you? How lewd are you, imagining me bent over your throne as you fuck me.”

“Loki,” Thor growled beneath him and he could see the rising lust in his eyes, could feel the god plant his feet on the floor and thrust up toward his hand. He was just on the edge of it, as far as Loki could push him before he broke.

“That badly, Thor?” he said, continuing anyway. He gasped as his fingers found that bundle of nerves, arching his back and pressing harder. His own words were turning him on and when he leaned forward again to nip at Thor’s neck, he rubbed his aching arousal against firm stomach muscles. “Are you going to break for me?”

Much to his surprise, despite the fact that Thor was gripping his rear so tightly he’d leave bruises behind, the man held back. Oh how delightful. Thor had _learned something_ in the time they’d been apart. “You’re so quiet, Thor. Normally a man can’t get you to be silent.” He leaned back up, removing his hand and letting out a sound of protest before he could stop himself. His hand eased down to grip Thor, squeezing him. “Well it seems you’ll have to wait longer.”

“Loki…”

“You’re still much too big for me to take without actual oil, so you’ll just have to…wait.” His smirk was downright lecherous as he slid off his brother. “Stay here.” Surprisingly as he ordered, Thor remained put and he wandered over the small chest nearby where he kept the oil he used on his weapons and armor. If he happened to move his rear a bit more than necessary, it was _purely_ accidental, of course.

Loki returned with unhurried steps, trying to think around his own arousal. He knew it was vain task, he would break and soon, which was why it was so important to have Thor break first. He crawled back up onto his lap and poured the oil on his hand before gripping his brother tightly. As he had expected, Thor was loud, a shout echoing in his room as he began coat him in a tormenting slow fashion.

“What are you thinking now?” he whispered as he deliberately played at his tip. “Are you thinking of pressing me against a pillar and fucking me raw? Do you dream of tying me down and leaving items inside me for hours? How long have you imagined what I will look like, spread for you?” He smirked a bit as he finally eased himself down, guiding Thor’s large erection toward his entrance. He moaned as his head finally eased past that first ring of muscles and he continued down, biting his lip and unable to say anything as he focused entirely on keeping himself relaxed.

When he finally reached the end, feeling their hips flush, he paused. Loki leaned down and added, “Do you want to make me beg?”

It appeared as if _that_ was the final straw. Thor threw himself forward, tumbling them over and he found himself pressed against the mattress. The look in Thor’s eyes was wild and he jerked his hips back only to plunge in again. Loki gasped, Thor growling out, “Enough torment, Loki.”

“Then give me what I need!” he moaned.

“I will. By the Norns, I will!” Thor gripped his hands, twining their fingers together, and then it was all Loki could do to hang on. His legs wrapped around Thor’s waist, urging the fierce pace on, and he threw back his head with a deep groan.

“Does it hurt, Loki?”

The question seemed to come out of the blue and Loki snarled in frustration. “Why are you thinking right now?!” he demanded, forcing Thor onto his back and straddling him again. “Just feel me!” Hands gripped his hips and sides as Loki took over the pace, trying not to shudder at the look in his brother’s eyes. It was not just lust, that he could handle; it was the affection, the delight and love in them that caused him to shiver.

“Loki, I don’t think…”

“Yes, Thor,” he moaned, the s sound dragging itself out like a hiss. “Let it go.”

“Not…without you.”

He let out a soft cry when callused fingers fumbled on him, grabbing at his cock and stroking him with a surprisingly deft touch. It had more expertise in it than he was expecting and he actually whimpered. “Thor—”

“You’re coming with me, Loki.” The smile was indulgent and besotted. “Not…just about me.”

Oh, he would kill him, he thought, biting his lip as he thrust down hard, Thor hitting that bundle of nerves just as thumb rubbed along his tip and caused him to release. He wasn’t supposed to, not first… He panted heavily, glaring a bit at the man that was grinning in delight below him. Hands eased to his rear as Thor held him, guided him as he took over, seeking his own climax with a single-minded focus.

“Close?” he murmured, deciding he enjoyed watching Thor from above rutting into his body, not bothering to hide the sounds of his yells. “Does my body please you?”

“Yes, gods yes!”

“Go as hard you want, love,” he whispered, easing his hands into Thor’s blonde hair. “As hard as you _need_.”

His name was screamed, Thor’s voice carrying out the open window, and Loki shuddered at feeling his brother’s climax stain his insides. “Delightful,” he murmured as Thor came down from his high only to squeak a bit when he was abruptly rolled over and found himself being clung to. “Thor?”

“You truly are a wonder, Loki.”

“What does that mean?” he asked, narrowing his gaze. Instead of answering, Thor tucked his head under Loki’s chin and before he could demand his question again, he heard soft snoring. “Thor! Wake up! You will _not_ sleep like this, not when you’re inside me! Thor!” There was no response and he moaned in frustration. “I’ll kill him.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters for one~ Beware the sappy fluff

Thor watched as Loki entered the throne room with a slight bit of hesitance, but he did walk straight to him and the Avengers as they spoke near the main hall door. “It appears as if you’re leaving then,” the trickster commented, looking, in Thor’s opinion, beautiful in his gold and green clothes.

Whatever Stark was about to say was cut short by a look from Banner, who said instead, “Yeah. We have to head back now, but we’re glad we could help.” He tilted his head. “What are you planning on doing now?”

He waited with baited breath to hear what his brother would say because that was something that they had yet to discuss. He’d broached the subject once before, but then Loki had distracted him with sex. Very pleasurable, madness inducing sex that had gotten him addicted after just one time. It had embarrassed him quite sincerely that he had fallen asleep immediately after, the half a day sparring with the Hulk having worn him out completely.

“I think I’ll remain in Asgard. The Allfather has ended my punishment.”

“What about you, Thor? You heading back with us?” Steve asked, glancing between the two of them.

Thor blinked, as the idea that he wouldn’t be wherever Loki was had never occurred to him. “I will stay here, but return to visit Midgard soon.”

“You know, I hate to bring this up when you both seem to be glowing, but what about Jane?” Stark said bluntly.

Jane. He glanced at Loki, but the man’s expression hadn’t changed. It was impossible to read him and he wanted to so very badly. What was he thinking? He would have to return to Midgard and explain to her what had happened. In truth, he himself wasn’t entirely certain; all that he was certain of was his feelings for Loki. They had never been this clear, this unambiguous before. Looking back on their relationship, he couldn’t understand how he didn’t see it before.

“I will return soon then, to tell her in person.”

“So honorable, Thor,” Loki mocked, an unhappy look in his eye before turning and stalking away.

He hesitated, glancing at the Avengers, and Stark waved at him. “Go on, go. We’re fine, we just walk over the bridge and go home, right?”

“Heimdall will be there to guide you,” he said and gave them a brilliant smile. “Thank you, my friends.”

“If you say thank you one more time, I might smack you. That’s, what, the twentieth time by now?”

Thor laughed before he quickly followed his brother’s footsteps. Loki hadn’t gotten too far ahead; indeed, he had stopped at a balcony, allowing him to catch up. “I had expected you would follow me. Want me again so soon?”

“Loki, that isn’t what this is about,” he said with irritation. “What’s the matter? Why are you unhappy?”

“You’re going to return to see her.”

“To tell her that I cannot court her because my heart belongs to you!”

Loki whirled on him and for the first time in his entire life, Thor was able to glimpse the insecurities his brother tried so hard to hide. “I don’t want you to see her at all, no matter the reason!”

Thor really tried, he tried not to smile, but it happened anyway. “You have no need to be _jealous_ , Loki.”

“I’m not jealous, Thor!”

He wrapped an arm around his lover’s waist. “You are, and while I’m honored by the depth of your affection, trust my words. I swore to you yesterday that I would not stray and I will not.”

“I _said_ I’m not jealous and if you insist that I am, I _will_ kill you. I’m already still angry with you for falling asleep yesterday while still inside me!”

“For a man who lies so well, you are not very good at it right now,” he said confidently.

For a minute he was sure that Loki would hit him, given the murderous look being thrown at him, but instead Thor found himself shoved against a nearby pillar. Their lips met with a distinct crash and his hands found their favorite spot: Loki’s rear. He squeezed the soft flesh, spinning them around until it was his brother’s back against the marble. His lust flared up, one time enough to addict him and not enough to satisfy in any way.

“How wanton, Thor,” he heard whispered in his ear when their lips broke. “Are you planning on rutting right here in plain view?”

It took an embarrassing amount of control to hold himself still. Instead he focused not on his lust, but his love. His fingers eased through the long black strands of hair, enjoying the look of confusion come across Loki’s face at the abrupt shift in mood. At least he did have some surprises in store for the smart man. “I love you, Loki,” he murmured, giving a gentle kiss this time rather than the bruising ones from before. “I would hold you again, but different than last time and not in so public a place. You are not a prize to be shown off, but a treasure to be cherished.”

“What nonsense are you babbling?”

Despite the tone, he could hear the confusion in his voice. He smiled, wrapping his arms around his lover again, this time taking away the harsh control Loki had over their previous encounter and replacing it with calm. “I do indeed enjoy your words, your actions, and yesterday fiercely, but you don’t have to feel you must say them every time. Are you thinking about giving me an excuse to want you? I need no encouragement to hold desire for you. Why do you think I do?”

“You really are an idiot,” Loki said, trying to get out of his grip.

Thor held on. “Why do you doubt my feelings?”

“Because it isn’t possible!”

He blinked. “What?”

“I’m not the type to attract good things, Thor,” Loki spat bitterly, refusing to meet his eyes. “Very rarely has anything _good_ ever happened to me. Why should something this… _nice_ , this good, _you_ happen to me? The answer is because it hasn’t. It’s just physical desire because I seduced you and you were…concerned about what had happened to me. The moment you see Jane, I will be forgotten and when you do remember, it will be with regrets for yesterday.”

“Is that…what you truly think of me? Of _yourself_?”

“How else do you explain my life? All my plans have failed as of late.”

“It was your plan to return to Asgard with the Avengers and save our family; it succeeded.”

“Once does not negate a pattern.”

Thor had to actually grab Loki’s chin to force their eyes to meet. “Your plans never went wrong when we were together.”

“So now you’re insinuating I’m incapable without you?”

“Why must you always twist my words?” he spat in frustration. “I mean to say, and you understood, that we are far better together than apart. _We_ , Loki. I found more joy and ease in fighting with you in that battle than I have in years past when we were separate. And if you truly think that I will abandon you, forget you, the moment I see Jane, then _come with me_.”

Loki’s eyebrows rose almost to his hairline at that. “You would ask your current partner to be there as you end the relationship with another? How cruel are you, to shove it in her face like that?”

“I do not seek to be cruel, Loki, but both of you must understand something.” He let his brother go, watching as he stumbled just a little from how abrupt it was. “I know my own heart and I am not to be assumed a fool. I need no hand to guide me. What I _need_ is a partner who trusts me and is my equal.”

He left his brother then, hoping his words would sink in.

-0-

He didn’t bed his brother since that conversation and they rarely spoke. Loki seemed to want to say something, but when Thor waited silently, there was nothing. That did not mean that he didn’t feel the eyes watching him. Loki was his ever present shadow, with him at all times, and seeming to study him, as if he were a fascinating puzzle that he didn’t understand. Not as unobservant as Loki claimed, Thor could see how he was barely holding himself in check from reaching out and touching him. Thor wanted nothing more than that, but he wouldn’t, not until he had spoken to Jane.

So four days after their conversation, he readied himself to return to Midgard. Loki had wavered between going and not going, until at the last minute he was there at Thor’s shoulder. Heimdall gave them a look, as the knowledge of their relationship had spread like wildfire throughout Asgard, but Thor didn’t care what other people’s opinions really were, only Loki’s.

They appeared back in that desert town where he’d first met the woman and he turned, leading the way to the building he knew she had once had her lab at. She was still there, he was sure, if Heimdall had placed them there. She was alone, Selvig and her assistant missing. He reached out, holding the door open for Loki, who gave him a sharp look but entered first.

“Thor!” The delight in her voice didn’t seem to be mitigated by Loki’s presence and she ran forward to wrap her arms around his chest. “Tony said that you were fine, but you didn’t come back with them!”

Loki was like a pillar next to him, stiff and unyielding, and Thor gently eased Jane’s arms from around him. “Jane, we must talk.”

She tilted her head at him, glancing at Loki. “What is it?”

He tried to calm himself, not get upset, at her suspicious staring at Loki, as if his brother had somehow hurt him. “I will not be returning to Midgard often. Asgard has need of me.”

“Then can I come with you?”

Thor blinked and it was not surprising to him that she would ask that question. He was drawn to her because she reminded him so much of Loki, how irreverent she was, that she would ask things no one else would do because her place was next to him. “No, Jane. Your place is here, among your people. Your work will benefit them more than they will ever know.” Before she could argue, he held up his hand. “This is not all I have to say. It isn’t just because of this that our courtship must end.”

“Then…what is it?” Her voice was shaking and he knew he was causing her pain, that she would probably cry when he was gone, but she was keeping it together because other people were here. When she was alone then she would allow herself to feel the hurt. So much like his beloved Loki.

“My heart…belongs to another. It always has, but I just never saw it. I’ve felt it all along, I just never realized what it meant. I should have seen it, I suppose, you have so many of the qualities of my love. I can only offer my sincerest apologies because I never meant to hurt you.”

Jane stepped back from him entirely. “Oh. So you were…”

“I did not look at you and see another; believe me, Jane, I didn’t know what it was in my heart until the recent threat to Asgard and I was imprisoned.”

“Who is it?”

“Jane…”

“I deserve to know, Thor, if I make you think of her so often.”

Thor swallowed a little, hating the question he was hoping she wouldn’t ask and yet knowing that she _would_ ask it. He looked over at Loki silently. Green eyes met his gaze, moving over to Jane when she followed his line of sight. Jane drew back, giving him a horrified look. “ _Loki_?! The man that killed how many people in his invasion of Earth?! The one that sent you back to be tortured?! How… _How_ do I remind you of him?! What, you suddenly see me taking over the world?! Or am I evil?! I would _never_ have sent you back to Asgard like he did, or hurt anyone!”

He had to take a deep breath to keep himself calm, to prevent him from taking offense to her words and defending Loki. “Your determination is what reminded me of him. How you continue, moving on past disappointment. Your pride in who you are, your irreverence for what has come before. You know what you want and you will not stop until you have it.” His eyes traveled to his brother and the force of his gaze made the man turn his head and meet Thor’s blue. “Loki didn’t want to, Jane, but he did what he had to save our mother. He knew that I could handle what they would do to me until he had a chance to free me.”

“You really believe that?”

Thor nodded at her, wanting so badly to take Loki into his arms, but holding back out of respect for Jane. He didn’t _want_ to hurt her. She turned away and walked back to her table, gripping the edge of it tightly. She was staring down at her papers and her shoulders were a little hunched. “Then I hope he won’t disappoint you.”

Thor knew right then that it was over. He wouldn’t be back, she didn’t want to even talk to him. If Loki betrayed him, she would not welcome him back. “He won’t,” he reassured her. He gestured for Loki to go first, opening the door for him. For a moment, it looked as if Loki might not, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, didn’t.

The heat from outside surrounded them as the door swung closed. He didn’t look back out of respect for her, that she would want to break down in private. “You’re quiet,” he commented to his brother.

“Heimdall! Return us to Asgard!”

He blinked at Loki’s order, wondering if he was being ignored. He felt the Bifrost close around them and they were back in Asgard in less than a minute. Before he could ask what was going on, Loki had grabbed his hand and they were suddenly in his bedroom. “Loki?”

He stumbled back as Loki shoved him into a chair and began to pace. “I don’t understand you, Thor!”

“What?”

“You could have told her in such a way that she would allow you to come back to her, yet you deliberately burned that bridge!”

“You won’t betray me, Loki.”

“Where?! Where does this confidence come from?!” Loki demanded, whirling on him.

“Because I trust you. I trust your feelings.”

“You’re a fool! How many times have I betrayed you? Hurt you? Yet you continue to be so surprisingly stupid about trusting me.”

“This is different, Loki. I’ve never had your heart before now. Can you tell me, in all honesty, that you would hurt me now as you did then?”

His brother opened his mouth, but then closed it in silence. “Damn you… Do you know how hard it was to stand there and be silent? There were so many things I wanted to say, wanted to do, and I just had to stand there!”

He let Loki pace some more before he finally asked, “Do you trust my feelings now, Loki?”

Loki slowly stopped walking, but his back was to Thor so he couldn’t see his face. “Will you come to bed, Thor?”

The question made him blink. Not ordering him to come to bed, not turning around and making him wild, trying to seduce him…asking him instead. Thor smiled brilliantly and stood up, resting his hands on his brother’s arms and kissing the back of his neck. “I will.”  



	9. Epilogue

Loki woke gradually to the feeling of hands easing up and down his back. His eyes slid open by merely a crack, noting that it was early morning. He resisted the urge to go back to sleep, after all the huge bed was comfortable, the sheets silken, the air was cool, and he was feeling satisfied and pampered. Indeed, he stretched like a cat, settling on his stomach.

Lips soon joined the fingers stroking along his spine and he felt the furs around his waist being pulled down to expose his rear. He grinned as a weight settled there and his legs instinctively spread to make it easier. “You’ve been king long enough now to know that you can’t just spend the day rutting into me. Not that I _mind_.”

“I thought you were offering,” Thor teased with a rumble of laughter as he rested his clothed weight over Loki’s bare back. He felt the chainmail against his skin, rough hands easing down his shoulders and arms to grab his hands and twine their fingers. Their hips were now flush and he could feel the leather rubbing against his thighs and rear. He was even still in his boots.

“I’m not the bed, you know.”

“No, you’re _far_ more comfortable than the bed.”

“Don’t we have some important dignitaries coming today? You wouldn’t want to disappoint them.”

“The Avengers would understand if we’re a little late.”

“They _have_ to understand because _every_ time they come, it happens. What was the last time? Stark saying he was going to stab out his own eyes when he saw you fucking me right up against a wall in the hallway a few months ago?”

Thor laughed in his ear and Loki shifted his head to rest more comfortably on the pillow. Thor’s long blonde hair touched his cheek as the man left soft kisses along his jaw. “He said to me after that I would never, apparently, have need of ‘Viagra’. I’m not sure what it is, but it doesn’t sound pleasant.”

Loki burst out laughing, his heaving chest jostling both of them. “Thor, ‘Viagra’ is a Midgardian drug to increase _sexual virility_! It is for those that have trouble performing in bed.”

“I shall try not to be insulted then.”

“Please, do not pretend you’re upset. I can _feel_ you smiling.”

Their palms met, Thor doting attention on him and Loki soaking it up like a cat, almost purring. “I can hardly believe it has been almost three years since the attack on Asgard.”

He hummed in agreement. Three years since Thor had been made King; three years since the Allfather had finally eased into his final slumber not more than four months after the attack; and two years since Thor had convinced Loki to marry him in one of the most elaborate ceremonies ever known on Asgard, only to repeat it not a week later on Midgard. At least there with the mortals, Loki had had the Avengers on his side for making it a low-key affair.

“I love you, Loki.”

“So you say every day.”

“If I don’t, you may stop believing it.”

“Hardly! I wouldn’t have agreed to be your husband if I didn’t believe in your feelings.”

“As I recall, it took an entire year of asking you before you gave in.” Loki reached out for a nearby pillow and smacked Thor over his shoulder as best he could. “You would hit your king with a pillow?!” he said in mock outrage.

“I would hit my annoying husband with a pillow, there’s a difference.”

There was a faint knock on the door and Loki heard it open without a pause. “See! Ha! I was _right_ , they’re still going at it!”

Loki managed to knock Thor off enough to ease up onto his arms and look over to the door. The Avengers stood there, expressions a varying mix of amusement and fond annoyance. “You owe me a twenty, Banner,” the genius was saying, gesturing at the mild-mannered scientist.

Yet the smile given back was a bit impish; clearly Loki was rubbing off on him. “I don’t think so, Tony. If you look closely, they’re not having sex.”

“Look closely? I’m _not_ looking closely at a naked Loki!”

“I don’t know why not, he’s got a nice ass.” The statement from Natasha caused everyone to stare at her, particularly Barton and she gave them an unrepentant grin. “What? He _does_ and I can at least have an objective look at it without appearing gay for him.”

Thor was laughing and really this was way too early in the morning for all this and yet Loki couldn’t find it in himself to be annoyed. As his husband eased from the bed and joined his friends, leading him out of the room so he could get dressed, Natasha stayed behind for a minute. “Loki, I have something I want to ask you.”

“Whether my ass is indeed my best asset?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I’m being serious here.”

He sat up, not caring about his nudity. Loki had been slow to warm up to the Avengers, but he had…eventually…not hated them. Thor was convinced that he liked them, but that was just his foolish optimism. “What is it?”

“The others don’t know yet, only Clint does, and we’ve talked about this before, so he knows about this and is okay with it…not that it would have stopped me.”

“Do spit it out, I don’t have all day.”

“I’m pregnant and I want you to be the godfather. Clint chose Bruce, and my choice is you.”

He stared in shock. While not particularly interested in Midgardian customs, he _did_ know about the culture more than what he wanted to know, and he knew about this one. “Don’t you usually ask those you’re particularly close to and trust for that kind of thing?”

“Yes,” was her very simple answer.

So if that was what it meant, and she knew that, and she still chose him… “Why me? Why not Thor?”

“You already know why, you just don’t want to see it. Despite your denial that we’re friends, that you _like_ us, you’d be a good father and you’d keep my child safe.”

It was the biggest thing anyone had ever entrusted to him in his life, even before the dark area of his life, and particularly after. While the rest of the worlds might always treat Loki with suspicion and doubt, and most of Asgard Midgard themselves still hated him, the Avengers and this one in particular _trusted_ him. “Yes,” he said quietly, fingering the ring on his finger as he always did when he felt out of his depth.

“Good. Now hurry up.”

He watched her go, the breeze ruffling the curtains from the open window and a few strands of his hair. His life might not be _perfect_ , but Loki had found a man that loved him to his core and friends that accepted him for who he was even with what he did. Thor’s voice filtered back down the hall with jubilance. Clearly he’d been informed of the joyous news of Natasha’s condition. He couldn’t help but smile just a little and shake his head, standing and getting dressed.

He was Loki Odinson, and he had all that he needed.


End file.
